Revenge
by minniemcmouse
Summary: It was all Sirius' fault. If he hadn't annoyed the entire house then the entire house wouldn't be so desirous of revenge. Naturally he would never have dreamed Harry would be involved in any such vengeance, let alone mastermind it. SLASH SBHP
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** If you recognise it then I don't own it. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

This is **Sirius/Harry slash**. Don't like? Don't read.

Revenge

Prologue

"Seriously, what's the worst your future can turn out!" Harry asked Sirius as he curled his legs up underneath him and took a sip of Honeydukes hot chocolate.

"You could have lost all your limbs," Remus suggested as he put more wood on the large fire. His movement knocked a Christmas card from the mantelpiece from where it fluttered into the fire. The perfection with which it fell made Sirius and Harry wonder just how accidental it had been.

"Why do I get the feeling that wasn't as accidental as you wanted it to look?" Sirius asked as Remus returned to his seat.

"Oh! Was that the one that _sang_ undying Christmas love from Tonks!" Harry grinned and Remus hid behind a book, feigning deafness. "It was! She'll kill you!"

"Or make you another louder one," Sirius grinned. "Anyway, back to the previous topic – everyone might end up liking Snape and I'd be alone in my hatred of him!"

"Horrifying," Remus deadpanned. "Your future has never looked so bleak."

"I know! How would I survive?" Sirius asked in mock concern. "What if he was married!"

"And you weren't?"

"You could be married to him," suggested Harry as he moved to avoid the cushion thrown at him. There was little need for him to attempt to doge it however; it was off target and hit Remus in the face.

"I thought we were trying to stay in the realm of realism?" Remus said before adding, "You could be dating Harry."

"What! Are you mad!"

"What was that about the realm of realism?"

"Well at least you two love each other!" Remus snapped at them. He took a sip of his own hot chocolate and let his eyes wander to their magnificent Christmas tree – handpicked by Hagrid and then shrunk to a more suitable size by McGonagall.

"I love him – I'm not _in_ love with him!" Sirius retorted.

"Fine, so your oh-so-awful future involves a world friendly towards Severus and you dating Harry," Remus summarised.

"I know, life has never looked so grim," Harry laughed before swatting away a fairy light. The cheerful little fairies, each of which had taken up the appearance of one household member, were quite keen on Harry and seemed to spend much of their time flying around him. The spell to create such Christmas decorations, along with other festive spells, had been explained by McGonagall earlier in the week and so Grimmauld Place could hardly have looked more Christmassy without Father Christmas wandering about the house.

"Voldemort's back but no one knows it's him because he looks like… Marilyn Monroe?" Sirius suggested.

"Oh yes, a famous Muggle actress who's been dead for years leading the Death Eaters. Not suspicious at all." Harry rolled his eyes at Sirius, not bothering to doge the cushion heading his way; a moment later Remus threw the offending part of the furniture back after it hit him in the face again.

"For Merlin's sake – stop! You have a terrible aim!" Remus told him. Sirius sighed and weighed the chances of actually hitting Remus if he was aiming for him. He decided that they were slim to none and held onto his cushion.

"Well Voldemort can be back from the dead somehow and we're at the top of his 'to kill' list," Sirius resumed the conversation which he had initially begun by finding out Harry's fears for the future.

"Is that all?" Remus asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. There wasn't much else that he could think of going wrong in their lives either but that didn't give them much to work with.

"Short of one of you, or both of you, ending up dead I can't think of much which could potentially ruin my life," Sirius shrugged, finishing his lukewarm hot chocolate in one gulp. A loud crash from the kitchen had all thee of them on their feet, wands drawn.

"Voldemort's been gone almost a year and we still leap to our feet at the slightest noise," Remus smiled and they all looked slightly sheepish.

"Probably just Dobby and Kreacher at it again," Sirius sighed. "I'll go yell at them and you two can discuss how marvellous I am whilst I'm gone. Yes?"

Remus and Harry gave him identically stony looks causing him to whimper in mock fear as he backed out of the room, pulling the door to behind him.

"So do you think that's enough?" Harry asked once the door was shut.

"I'm sure of it," Remus replied and handed him a small list.

"Sirius'll never know what hit him." Harry flashed him a grin before following his godfather to the kitchen, Remus in tow.


	2. The Beginnings Of A Plan

**Disclaimer:** If you recognise it then I don't own it. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

This is **Sirius/Harry slash**. Don't like? Don't read.

The Beginnings Of A Plan

It all began with a joke, or to be more precise, a prank. Harry wasn't particularly fond of practical jokes, but he was fond of revenge, so when he saw the perfect opportunity for the vengeance he sought to be both ironic and highly amusing he could barely resist. When Remus informed him of the potential psychological damage the aforementioned practical joke could have upon Sirius he was all the more keen to put his plan into action. Sirius, unsuspecting of such a form of vengeance, or vengeance at all come to think of it, being undertaken against him was, quite possibly, the perfect target.

As Harry left the room, Remus allowed a slight smile to pass over his tired features, lighting up his face somewhat. He was curled up on his own bed with a small list in front of him. It contained a record of all the things that Harry had begged him to do the next day, the most notable of which was to inform the rest of the house just what would be going on and to persuade them either to go along with the charade or to leave for a few days.

When the entire Order of the Phoenix was being asked to vacate their headquarters for an entire week in the name of revenge – or more accurately: psychological torture – anyone else would have thought Sirius had committed nothing short of full scale murder. The truth was not nearly as harmful. Still, Harry (with all his influence in the house) had decided revenge, not only for himself, was long since due and Remus would not be the one to deny him it.

Downstairs the clock chimed midnight. Sirius would be safe, unsuspecting and sleeping in his room, next but one from Remus's own sanctuary. Harry would be running a mental check over everything which had yet to be done in the room between them whilst he, Remus, tried not to laugh at the idea of Sirius when he discovered just what had been happening around him, and all masterfully plotted and executed by his own godson.

At least that's what Remus presumed would happen; Harry, who had spoken against their former antics whilst in their school years many a time, had proven himself highly valuable for harmless pranks and great schemes against Snape. His ability to catch existing flaws: a hell of a lot better than Sirius's, his charm and charisma with all members of the household: one of his most valuable traits (although it had been more hard-won with some of the Order members than others) but his originality and resourcefulness, his sudden and yet frequently ingenious ideas were irreplaceable. It was for this that Sirius and Remus prized his presence in their schemes.

Unfortunately, as vital as it usually was to have Harry well and truly on their side, Sirius had never considered how much he'd regret it if he wasn't.

As Remus slipped the list into the pocket of his jeans, he made a mental note never to aggravate Harry in such a manner himself, although the challenge that putting his wits against Harry's would produce would certainly be tough but enjoyable, the repercussions of his loss would be unbearable. Their current plot had never been more bold, daring or insulting to Sirius's intelligence but he had no doubts of Harry's ability to pull it off; in his eyes he could do no wrong.

Naturally both Remus and Sirius believed this of Harry; they were his guardians and he, the closest either was likely to have to a son. The love between them was undeniable and their bonds unbreakable but each had their limits and boundaries. It just so happened that Sirius had crossed the line just once too many with Harry. It was for this reason that Harry felt himself justified in seeing just where Sirius's limits lay and how far he could push them. It was a dangerous game but Remus trusted that Harry would know when to stop, if not then only Merlin would be able to help Sirius then.

* * *

"You want me to what!" Snape demanded of Remus the very next day. Harry had pulled Sirius from the house to Diagon Alley in order to remove him from Remus's way.

"Please Severus… it's for the humiliation of one of your oldest enemies!" he said cheerfully whilst determinedly not adding, _no, not the shower although we all know how you hate it so._

Severus hesitated for a brief moment and Remus knew he'd hit the best argument towards their cause that he possibly could have. He had made a list of all points which were likely to sway the individual live-in members of the Order, ensuring that he cornered each of them alone. It was in this way that he had somehow convinced Minerva, Mad Eye, Tonks, Hermione and the entire Weasley clan, Fleur included, to go along with the plan at hand. Blackmail and bribery had been necessary in places however.

"Besides, Harry obtained a list of everything Sirius would hate and I know you'd just love to help his worst nightmares come true."

That had been it; the final straw and Severus was in on the plan.

"Just tell me what I have to do." His expression was grim and stony. Remus tried and failed to hide his glee. _Oh this is just too easy!_

After a lengthy explanation Remus left Severus looking thoroughly convinced that their plan would fail due to 'Potter's idiocy' but that it was worth the try if only to humiliate Sirius. He walked quickly up the stairs and upon seeing Hermione making her way towards him he leapt into his bedroom, hastily charming the door shut behind him. Since the plan had become widespread knowledge within the house, the many questions which had arisen had all been directed at him in Harry's absence.

Remus couldn't help but wonder just what was going on between Sirius and Harry and where they were. They never seemed to go out without him unless he had something else/better to do. He scowled at the knowledge that they were out having fun whilst he dodged everyone who came towards him in the fear of incessant questioning.

Someone hammered on his bedroom door, demanding that he admit them or else he'd blow the door down. Remus really didn't want to listen to Mad Eye's unique brand of questioning but, as the madman had already told him, he wasn't being given much of a choice.

Harry had foreseen all this, he must have done! This was presumably the reason he had taken the easy way out. Still, he would rather not have to be in Harry's shoes when things did get underway; Harry didn't seem all that bothered about it though. Remus had begun to wonder, for the first time, whether Harry had a hidden agenda, after all surely he was fully aware of the potential situation this plan could put him in. All thoughts of Harry and Sirius were wiped from his mind as the hammering on the door ceased. For one blissful moment there was silence and then…

"Right, that's it!" Mad Eye yelled through the door. "I didn't want to have to do this!"

"Sure you didn't – this has made your day, Mad Eye," Remus muttered darkly and then added, in a louder voice, "I'm coming, _I'm co—_" He was cut off as he walked towards the door by Mad Eye.

"_Reducto_!" The door was suddenly no more and in the doorway lay a few splinters of wood which Remus stared at in a sense of bemused disbelief.

"Ah Remus, so yes, I had something to ask you…" Remus cursed Harry under his breath and hoped he was having a miserable time with Sirius.

"Go on, what is it that I can help with?" Remus asked, resigned to his fate for the afternoon.

"Well actually it's the entire concept I'm struggling with." Remus ground his teeth and doubled his hopes of Harry's current unhappiness. He hoped that, wherever Harry was, he was as close to tears as he was.

* * *

Tears streamed down Harry's face as he and Sirius ran off out of Diagon Alley, their faces flushed with excitement and the icy wind which buffeted them.

"Don't cry, love. It wasn't that bad!" Sirius grinned as Harry stuck his tongue out at him and wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Hey! Get back here!" The shout was from behind them but neither Sirius nor Harry had any intention of stopping. With a wicked grin Sirius grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him well away from the Leaky Cauldron and into Muggle London, partly hoping that they wizards they had offended would give chase. It seemed like they were in luck: two wizards from _La Café Romantique_ were running after them and yelling in loud cockney accents quite different to the faux-French accents they had adopted inside.

_La Café Romantique _was the latest addition to the growing street of Diagon Alley. It was a small café, decorated in varying shades of red and red only. It reminded Harry quite strongly of Madam Puddifoot's in Hogsmeade. There was one small difference however, which was that the originally named café always had live music from a handsome man known as Jacques. Jacques was most frequently called Bert in the Leaky Cauldron in the early hours of the morning once he'd removed his attractive disguise but at the present time he was still very much in the role of Jacques.

"Down here!" shouted Pierre, the primary waiter in _La Café Romantique_ as he abandoned all French pretence and hauled 'Jacques' after him along a small alleyway. He ducked just in time to avoid being hit round the head with a guitar that Bert was wielding behind him for reasons unknown and heard the crash as it smashed into the wall.

"Did you see that!" Harry choked out, just managing to bite back his laughter. Sirius's shoulders were shaking and when Harry caught a glimpse of his expression it was alight with childish mischief and joy. Sirius slipped an arm round Harry's waist and steered him away from Jacques and Pierre whilst one of the two sobbed over his broken guitar and the other grumbled before turning back to the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley.

"Well that was fun," Sirius grinned as they stepped out of the alleyway and into a street filled with shops.

"I agree, although we mightn't be able to walk through Diagon Alley again without being attacked by pretend Frenchmen," Harry told him and Sirius nodded gravely.

"Never mind, it can be a source of well needed exercise," Sirius said before adding, "Not that they'll last long anyway."

After the final defeat of Voldemort, witches and wizards from other nations had begun to trickle back into the country, making the magical census the largest it bad ever been. It also meant that there were a lot more takeaways opening but that wasn't particularly important.

Number thirteen Diagon Alley was considered an unlucky address, primarily because of its number on the street but also because every shop which had ventured to hope for success there after Voldemort's fall had lasted less than a month. _La Café Romantique_ had been there for almost four weeks and all of the occupants of Grimmauld Place hoped that they would find their downfall soon.

All except Tonks that was. She had tried to haul Remus there on three separate occasions now. Remus had managed to evade her so far and had been spending lots of time trying to repel her unwanted presence away from him. He was doing quite well in Harry's opinion. Of course if Remus had pushed her away from him after Dumbledore's death and at the funeral like he should have done then he would possibly have had rid of her forever. Instead he'd had a tiresome relationship with her for six months before breaking it off with her. Another year after that found them in the middle of December and Tonks was still claiming to be madly in love with Remus who was close to professing himself as a blatant homosexual in order to elude her forever.

"Hey!" Sirius yelled and Harry jumped, his train of thought gone with a rush of the wind.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Well I said that the café wouldn't last long and you said..." he broke off and stared sullenly at the pavement below him just as Harry had done.

"Sorry," Harry said again, making Sirius pull a face.

"If you apologise to me once more I'll…" he threatened.

"You'll…?"

"Shut up, I don't know yet but it won't be pleasant!" Sirius finished and Harry shot him his most charming smile.

"Come on, let's get out of the cold," Harry said, linking his arm through Sirius's and pulling him into a small café at the end of the street. This one was run by Muggles and there wasn't any red anywhere except on the large Christmas tree in the corner.

"Mistletoe," Sirius noted idly as they stepped through the door and smiled when Harry gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you, so what will you have to drink?"

The intimacy between them was one which many people found odd, although those closest to them understood only too well that it was a relationship originally built on a fear of loss. Now that Harry had rid the world from Voldemort forever then there was no longer much danger of them losing one another but they remained very close nonetheless.

Still both of them wondered how differently things could have turned out: if Dumbledore had never died … if Harry had never stumbled upon the Book of Life as he searched for the final Horcrux … if Ron had never become a Death Eater … if the Ministry had been unable to identify Pettigrew's body ... if the veil had been destroyed before Harry got there…

So many 'if's but if seemed that after the last hectic year since Voldemort's fall things were finally looking up and, with Remus and Sirius, Harry would finally be allowed to live a life so long denied him. A slight smile turned the corner of Harry's lips at this thought and the movement brought him back out of reverie, making him realise that the hot chocolate he had been absently stirring for Merlin knew how long was probably becoming quite cold. He let go of the spoon and looked up, his eyes locking with Sirius's worried gaze.

"Tell me what's wrong," Sirius told him, reaching out to Harry's hand which lay thawing on the table with his own numb fingers.

"Nothing's _wrong_," Harry told him truthfully and upon seeing Sirius's dubious look he added, "Really, I'm just thinking that's all."

"About what?" Sirius asked as he scanned his eyes over Harry's tired features. _Nightmares again_, he supposed. Everyone suffered in the night from events which had plagued them and, understandably, none worse than Harry. Almost every night he screamed out into his empty room, the silencing charms ensuring his voice went no further until he awoke and crept into the bed of either Sirius or Remus. Or them to his.

The behaviour seen by others as childish didn't feel so to them. It had long been discovered by the three that a physical presence during the night helped keep them grounded during the worst of their dreams. It also gave them someone with whom to talk over the alarming visions given to them by their subconscious.

"Now who's lost in their own thoughts?" Harry's slightly amused voice brought Sirius back to the café with the slightest of blushes creeping into his cheeks.

"Sorry," muttered Sirius as he tried to recall what their subject matter had been. He failed.

"You asked me what I'd been thinking about," Harry supplied helpfully, making Sirius look quite sheepish. "However, I'm far more curious as to what _you_ were thinking of."

"Just thinking that you look worn out," Sirius told him truthfully, "and I wondered whether you'd been having nightmares recently?"

"You looked exhausted yourself so I decided to let you sleep and wake Remus instead," Harry said, answering the accusations of favouritism inherent in Sirius's voice and in his choice of diction. A flicker of a smile touched Sirius's face; Harry never missed a thing, especially not the little things implied in his speech.

"Wake me as frequently as you like," Sirius told him and this time it was Harry's turn to smile.

"Oh I will. You can count on that."

"Only when you've been having nightmares!" Sirius scowled. "Anyway, before you distract me entirely, what were you thinking about?"

"How differently things could have turned out and everything that's happened to us, you know?" Harry said quietly.

"I admit that things could have gone a lot better but at the same time they could have been a hell of a lot worse," Sirius told him and Harry nodded.

"I know, and I know I have a future now and a life and everything but I can't help but get absorbed in the past…" Harry admitted. Sirius appeared to be thinking and there were a few moments until he spoke but Harry could tell he was trying to phrase his next words carefully.

"I can't imagine what it must have been like for you, what with everyone you've lost and everything you've been through. Yes, it will have changed you and you'll never forget the things you've been through but it's over now," Sirius said carefully, watching Harry for any sign of irritation of anger against him. "You've fulfilled the prophecy, you've killed Voldemort and now you can do whatever the hell you want with your life. Whether you want it or not, Remus and I will be with you, looking out for you because we love you. You've still got breath in your body and friends who care about you so live while you can. You never know when life will be snatched away from you." He finished realising that he'd been babbling towards the end and glanced down at his hand whilst was still holding on to that of Harry's.

"That was very sweet, Sirius," Harry smiled, knowing that if anyone would know the cruelty of sudden and unexpected death then it would be Sirius. After all, he'd experienced it. He moved around the table and wrapped his arms around Sirius tightly. "Thank you," he whispered into Sirius's ear, "and I love you too. Shall we get out of here and go for a wander?"

"An excellent idea," Sirius grinned and slipped his coat back on. They stepped through the doorway into the icy street and Sirius pressed a kiss to Harry's temple as they passed under the mistletoe. "So, continuing our conversation from the other day: what would _you_ hate to happen in the future?" Harry grinned at the remembrance of their previous conversation as Sirius wound an arm around his shoulders and steered him down the street.


	3. Preparations

**Disclaimer:** If you recognise it then I don't own it. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

This is **Sirius/Harry slash**. Don't like? Don't read.

Preparations

Remus glared at the fireplace as Harry and Sirius staggered out of it. He'd had a particularly unpleasant day, punctuated with questions and Tonks appearing every few minutes. After a year of rejection she was still unable to comprehend that he didn't want anyone like her and his lycanthropy had nothing to do with it.

"Hey Remus," Harry smiled and stepped towards him, choosing to ignore his look of displeasure. "Nice day?" Remus didn't miss the humour in his voice as he wrapped his arms around Harry, pulling him into a loose embrace.

"You little git," he muttered into Harry's ear. "You know exactly what my day's been like."

"I know, I'm sorry," Harry murmured back in returned, aware that Sirius was watching their whispered conversation from the fireplace. "At least I had a good day, and that's what counts, right?"

"Naturally, but you're taking over any questions from here," Remus told him and was suspicious of Harry's smile.

"No problem, but when was the last time anyone asked you anything?" Harry asked and Remus's mouth fell open slightly. He was practically oozing irritation but Harry merely grinned and pulled away from him. "I think you've answered all the questions yourself, well done Remy," he smirked before their contact broke.

"And what was all that about?" Sirius asked as he walked towards them; his eyes darting between Remus, who looked almost angry, and Harry who appeared quite triumphant, although about what Sirius didn't know. He had observed the exchange between the two others with interest as he watched them embrace. Some time later the word 'jealousy' would drift through his thoughts but right then he felt excluded, irritated and curious. The answer he received merely served to strengthen this feeling.

"What was all what about?" Remus asked elusively. Sirius decided to humour him.

"Your little muttered conversation there," Sirius pointed out, wondering whether he was being foolish and if he would be perceived as such. Remus and Harry shared a glance with raised eyebrows before turning back to him.

"I'm sorry, are greetings no longer permitted under this roof?" asked Harry as he crossed the room so that he was stood in front of Sirius and took both of his hands in his own. "I'd have greeted you also but seeing as we've spent the afternoon together I thought it might have seemed a little odd…" Remus observed the pair as Harry smiled brightly and the action was automatically mirrored in Sirius's own face. No one was better than Harry at keeping Sirius's quick temper under control and Remus knew for certain that he would need all his calming skill when Harry broke the truth about the prank to him, although… watching the pair of them stood holding hand by the fireplace made him wonder.

He was definitely going to have to speak to Harry about the possibilities that this psychological trickery could have upon the relationship between he and Sirius. It seemed possible that things could go in an entirely different direction to the one he'd originally foreseen.

Later that evening when the entire house had retired to bed, mostly full of intrigue or excitement that the coming day would bring, Remus crept into Harry's room next to his own. It seemed that he would finally get the last minute talk with Harry that he wanted; one last chance to pull out before the plan went underway.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Remus asked quietly as he sat cross-legged at the end of Harry's bed, the owner of which was sat in the same manner inside it.

"Of course I do. Does this talk mean that you're getting cold feet?" Harry asked him as he gazed across at one of his guardians through the dim light cast by his bedside lamp.

"Partially," Remus answered carefully, "but I just think that things between the two of you might not go the way you planned them to."

"I'll explain the situation to him, he'll reject me with disgust and horror and I'll reveal all about a week later," Harry said calmly and Remus looked slightly uneasy before answering.

"That's just one possible scenario," Remus told him, "What happens if he doesn't reject you? You could end up dating your own godfather. You could fall in love with him or he with you!"

"That'll never happen!" Harry argued. "I'm twenty years younger than him!"

"Age has nothing to do with love and all I'm saying is that you will be explaining the past. You're going to say something and it will be corroborated by the rest of the house! He'll have to believe it… I just…" He broke off, unsure of how to phrase his meaning. "He'll think he's fallen in love with you once and he might just do it again."

Silence filled the room as Harry bit at his lip and possible scenarios wandered through his mind. Remus watched him in concern. He didn't think that Sirius would reject Harry entirely, he really didn't. They could easily end up together and he was already aware of the speculation that Severus was starting about the pair of them. God only knew what this would do. It wasn't that their ending up dating would be a bad thing, although to his knowledge Harry was heterosexual, they could probably face the media and the general public. After all Rita Skeeter would love to write about the Azkaban escapee taking advantage of the Wizarding world's young hero – Harry.

All that wasn't really the issue, but what would be a problem would be dealing with heartbroken Sirius when he found Harry had never loved him like that or was the age he'd pretended, or possibly worse still – comforting Harry after falling in love and being rejected when the truth was revealed. Should they end up happily together after all this had been and gone then Remus would only be happy for them but right then that seemed like the most unlikely of all the options which could occur.

Their conversation had gone no further that night but it replayed in both their heads as Harry laid his head against Remus and they both slipped into an uneasy slumber.

* * *

"Are you ready to do this?" Remus asked Harry who nodded confidently as they walked into the kitchen the next morning. McGonagall, Mad Eye, Tonks, Severus, Molly, Arthur, Bill, Fleur, Hermione, Fred and George were already seated at the table. Surprisingly Severus was the first to speak.

"I must say, Potter, I'm quite glad you're doing this. Someone needs to teach that mutt a lesson; it may as well be you," he said calmly. "Besides, he destroyed half my lab in his last visit."

"HE turned my hair green for four days!"

"He sold me my own joke wand!"

"He almost destroyed my kitchen!"

"All right, all right everyone," McGonagall said above the din. "That's enough. Severus, I trust you made the potion?" Minerva hadn't stated her reason for going along with their plan but Harry knew she had one; everyone did and the way she narrowed her eyes when someone so much as mentioned his name was almost alarming in its way. Systematically Sirius had irritated everyone living in headquarters to a point where vengeance of some sort was necessary: it was just a pity he'd annoyed Harry also or else the whole situation may never have come to pass.

"Four drops, and four drops _only_!" Severus barked at them as he handed a potion around the table. "After Black's stunned at the bottom of the stairs you take it then and not a moment before." Everyone nodded and their eyes went to Harry who had seated himself at the head of the table.

"No questions? Everyone know what they're doing?" he asked and all those around him nodded. "Excellent. Dobby?"

The house elf appeared with a crack. "Yes Master Harry sir?" the overexcited elf asked eagerly.

"Please go wake Sirius up," he said and the house elf was gone a moment later. Hermione didn't scold him for his sending his house elf to do something he could have easily done himself, but her days of obsessing over SPEW and then of Ron were gone. Long gone, along with Ron. Ron hadn't been there for a long time now though, and neither had Ginny…

Harry bit his lip, forcing back the painful memories of his past which assaulted him at the most inopportune moments. He didn't notice when Remus told them all to go to their posts and only vaguely realised he was walking as Remus led him along the hallway and up the stairs to his room. The thoughts of the past were removed as he slipped into Remus's room, accompanied by the room's owner and a small vial of potion was pressed into his hand.

Remus stared at Harry for a moment, wondering what it was that niggled at the edge of his conscious. "Robes," he said quietly and Harry looked up to him in confusion, seeing Ron for the briefest of moments before his guardian's calm visage met him.

"What was that?" Harry asked as he stared around at his surroundings, wondering how he came to be there. A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth; Sirius would be feeling like that shortly.

"You'll have to wear robes for the duration," Remus told him and Harry nodded. Even after having left school for a year and a half Harry didn't wear robes like his Wizarding peers and chose instead to clothe himself in muggle attire.

"Although if I don't wear them now, why would I wear them in the future?" Harry asked Remus who appeared to think for a moment.

"I suppose it's your choice of course but I'd have thought a complete change in attire would add more difference and more confusion," Remus explained. Harry eventually gave in, knowing that he was going to spend the next week or so wearing his most hated of garments.

"_Breakfast_!" The word was magically amplified and echoed around the house bringing every member of the household down to breakfast, Sirius included.

"Good morning m'dear!" he said cheerfully as he slipped an arm round Harry's waist and led him down to the kitchen. Remus trailed happily behind them, a slight smile on his face. It wasn't there long however.

"Remus!" Tonks's voice met him before the pink-haired witch ran up behind him and seized his arm. Remus, unable to escape without appearing rude or insane bore her presence in silence.

Tonks was happy just to be walking alongside Remus again; she knew he was starting to warm back up to her, despite his many protests. To be fair, the protests had gone from lycanthropy-related issues to 'I don't like you like that' but she was certain she could make him like her again. Her eyes widened slightly as she noted Sirius's arm around Harry's waist.

"They're practicing already I see." Beside her Remus nodded and watched Sirius and Harry until they reached the kitchen.

At the breakfast table that morning Sirius felt that people were being particularly attentive towards him. He was seated opposite Remus and Harry, both of whom kept their conversation on him. Meanwhile Molly was practically force-feeding him extra helpings and he could have sworn that the other members of the Order were watching him. He voiced these thoughts to Harry some time later as they stood on the landing on the first floor.

"Well I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, Siri," Harry told him. Sirius scowled slightly at the contraction of his name but didn't comment. Harry knew perfectly well how he felt about the use of it. "It's just your big head imagining yourself to have attention that you'll never have."

"Thanks!" Sirius pouted and stormed off to his own room a little further down. Harry grinned as he watched him walk away before he realised. _Sirius can't go in there!_ Minerva, whom Harry was still surprised was going along with the scheme, was already in there, changing Sirius's living space as she saw fit.

"Hey!" Harry shouted after him. "Oh big-headed one! Fancy being beaten at Quidditch?" That got Sirius turning away from his door, unaware as to how closely he was being watched and by how many people.

"Moi? Lose to you at Quidditch? I think not!" Sirius replied in a very poor French accent which reminded both of them of _La café Romantique_. He turned and raced after Harry in his Animagus form before hurling himself down the stairs.

'_Stupefy!'_ Harry thought. There was a flash of red and a dull thud. Sirius lay unconscious at the bottom of the stairs.

"Excellent work, now let's get moving everyone!" Minerva said as she stepped out onto the landing. She quickly levitated Sirius onto a stretcher and took him into his own room. Harry grinned and followed her inside.

"Oh my god, this is amazing!" Harry said to her as he entered the room. It was now decorated in deep red as opposed to the green and silver which Sirius's parents had decorated the master bedroom in before him and which he had never bothered to change. The curtains were heavy, coloured predominantly red with flecks of gold. They were blocking the sunlight from the room, keeping Sirius and the large, luxurious four poster bed upon which he was lain in the dark.

She smiled her thanks when Harry's eyes finally returned to her form her handiwork.

"I took the liberty of moving most of your possessions into here, leaving items such as your school robes, books and trunk in your 'old' room, although I daresay you may be wanting them back in there before long…" she said lightly as the door opened behind them and Hermione stepped in with a bag on her back.

"I'm going now; the taxi's waiting for me outside," she said and Harry automatically followed her form the room, down towards the hallway.

"Have a nice time and I'll see you in a week, I guess," he said, giving her a brief hug by the open front door. Out on the street a Muggle taxi was indeed waiting impatiently for her.

"I really want some time alone with my family, you know," she said. "Don't go too far this week and remember I'm always just a phone call away if you need me." She gave him another quick hug and a smile before she ran out to the taxi.

"Are we all ready then?" Harry asked as he walked into Sirius's room once Hermione had left. Sirius's and his room, he corrected himself.

"Yes, now remember: four drops _every_ morning!" Severus told them all. The occupants of the house were all gathered in the room, most of them glancing down at Sirius who had already unwittingly taken his four drops of the potion.

"Right, good luck Harry and everyone else out! The time is 11am which means we'll have a late breakfast," Minerva told them all calmly. Everyone cleared out of the room, Remus last of all, wishing him 'good luck' on the way out.

Not wasting any time after taking the four drops of aging potion Harry slipped into bed, removing his clothes with his wand as he did so. He pointed his wand at Sirius and lay down in bed.

"_Ennervate._"


	4. Ennervate

**Disclaimer:** If you recognise it then I don't own it. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

This is **Sirius/Harry slash**. Don't like? Don't read.

Ennervate

Sirius thought he heard someone murmur something as he opened his aching eyes to sunlight streaming in through a small gap between the deep red curtains… Wait a minute… deep red? The curtains in his room were dark green which went with the rest of the Slytherin décor he had never bothered to change.

A quick inspection of the room he was in had Sirius in a considerable state of alarm due to his certainty that it was in fact his own room. The fact that he couldn't remember how he got there didn't help and neither did the presence of a young, seemingly familiar male body beside him in a deep sleep. Although the young man, and he was young – around twenty five years younger than him – was in a deep sleep he didn't appear to be in any clothing. A quick glance under his heavy duvet confirmed both this and, even more unsettlingly, Sirius's own nudity.

"Oh my god… what the hell…!" he managed to choke out as many strange scenarios as to how he may have ended up in such a situation flooded his mind. His voice stirred the man next to him from his slumber and he found a pair of enchantingly green eyes fixed on him that he knew all too well.

"Harry!"

"What's the matter, Siri?" the young man who looked so shockingly like his godson asked.

"Where the hell am I? Why do you look like that? And why the bloody hell are we in bed naked!" Sirius almost screamed whilst hysterical laughter was bubbling up within Harry.

"Sirius?" Harry said, apparently at a loss for anything else to say. "Well you're in our room –"

"_Our_ room!" Sirius cried aghast. "Why do we share a room!"

"Well that's where the nakedness comes in…" Harry flashed him a charming smile and slipped out of bed, allowing Sirius only the slightest of glances at his back before Harry robed himself with his wand. He glanced at Sirius who was openly gaping at him and appeared entirely out of it. "Seriously, what's wrong?"

Sirius felt numb as the young man (who couldn't possibly be Harry, he couldn't!) climbed back onto the bed and over to him. His breathing quickened as Harry straddled his thighs – over the sheets thankfully – and took both his hands in his own in a way similar to the way Harry had taken both his hands the day before.

"Talk to me, Siri. Tell me what's wrong," Harry prompted, holding Sirius's terrified gaze. Sirius felt the stranger let go of one of his hands, his fingers stroking a stray lock of hair from Sirius's eyes. Harry's touch was light and tender although it could offer him no comfort in his panicked state.

"This is entirely wrong…" Sirius said suddenly, trying to slip out from beneath Harry but the young man held him there tightly with strength not even he had suspected he possessed.

"How is it all wrong?" Harry asked, not wanting to have to match his new found strength against Sirius should he become unmanageable.

"You're eighteen for starters!" he snapped and Harry's eyed widened.

"Eighteen…?" Harry repeated, raising an eyebrow, fully aware that he didn't look eighteen any longer. "What year is it?"

"It's 1998, 1999 in two weeks or so," Sirius replied and Harry stared at him for some time without speaking. Then realisation dawned in his eyes and Harry tried to get up from the bed. This time it was Sirius's strong hands pressing down firmly on Harry's thighs which kept him there. Harry swallowed and found his eyes drawn down to Sirius's at the man's touch.

"Oh, I'll kill you for this, Snape," Harry muttered darkly, making Sirius wonder what kind of role his old enemy played in the current bizarre scenario playing out between he and Harry. He tried to rise again but Sirius held him there firmly.

"What's going on?" Harry noted as Sirius spoke that he had lost the initial terror in his eyes which several surprises had brought into them. Now he seemed merely concerned and anxious.

"It's not 1998, Sirius. It's 2002, 2003 in two weeks or thereabouts. We got really drunk the night before last and Severus brewed a potion to help with the hangover but clearly it's not gone to plan…" Harry sighed.

"So, what? I've just lost four years of memories?" Sirius asked in a state of disbelief.

"It certainly looks like it, I mean you don't look any different so you can't have come through time or anything," Harry told him. This was all that was needed before Sirius leapt out of bed, finally dislodging Harry who sprawled sideways onto the bed. Harry waved his wand, covering Sirius in robes before the man had realised his own lack of clothing.

"I have grey hair!" Sirius howled as he stared at his reflection which was four years older than he last remembered it. He watched Harry come up behind him with a slight smile on his lips.

"It's only a little here," Harry said consolingly as he reached up to Sirius's face with his fingertips, brushing them lightly over the stubble on his jaw. He knew he had to act like a convincing long-term lover to the man but sadly, his lack of experience with anything but a few flings meant he had little to work with. His current ideas involved being as close to him as possible and acting as if he knew the man inside out. "I don't care about it, so why should you?"

Sirius felt his heart racing in his chest as he turned to face Harry. He was still shorter than him but not by much any longer. Sirius noticed the way Harry still worried his bottom lip when something was bothering him. He could feel Harry's eyes on his and Harry's thumb running across his jaw.

Harry refrained from smiling at Sirius's nervousness; his little finger was subtly pressed against an artery on Sirius's neck, allowing Harry to feel his racing pulse. It quickened even more when Sirius dropped his gaze and noticed how close the two of them were standing.

"What's going on with us?" Sirius asked hoarsely, his throat almost painfully dry.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we sleep in the same room, in the same bed and you're…" he broke off, waving his arms before turning away towards the window. Somehow Harry translated his wild gestures to be referring to the fact that he had no apparent problem with sitting in Sirius's lap and practically caressing his face.

"I'm sure you can draw, and already have drawn, your own conclusions, Siri," Harry said quietly as he followed his godfather to the window where Sirius had already pressed his forehead to the cool window pane.

For a moment or two Sirius was silent, simply taking in deep breaths as he stared out at the garden and even that had changed; wilder and more overgrown than ever. Not that he knew Hagrid had been put to the task of sprinkling growth potion over it the day before.

"Why on earth would we be sleeping together?" Sirius asked, more wondering aloud than actually asking.

"I don't know, because you were in love with me perhaps?" Harry's voice held a mocking tone which seemed to Sirius as if Harry was amused by his assumptions, if that had been what they were. After all, the trouble was that Sirius had no idea of the past few years – he could have proclaimed undying love to Harry on dozens of occasions for all he knew.

Sirius kept his gaze outside, wandering over the trees and the plants in the wilderness that no one had yet tamed. His thoughts raced with everything he'd learnt and yet part of him wandered whether this was real, whether it was a dream or something else, like a very bizarre joke. How could it be so…? It would have been ridiculously elaborate even by Harry's standards if it was…

He wondered briefly how long he'd been with Harry, after all they shared both a room and a bed so clearly they were both willing participants in whatever it was they were and yet he couldn't imagine doing something of that nature with Harry unless he truly cared about him… yet Harry was determinedly heterosexual, even if he, Sirius, wasn't. Yes, Harry was good looking – but anyone with eyes would have realised that; it wasn't that he was attracted to him, was it? His mind began to swirl and confusion was setting in again. He didn't notice as Harry slipped away from him, moving towards the door.

"Sirius?" The man in question turned to face Harry, noting the way he had taken to biting his lip again and the dejected expression he wore. "I'm going to go shout at Severus and then get some breakfast, are you coming?"

Sirius nodded and soon they were in the main hallway listening to voices floating in from the kitchen where a late breakfast was taking place within.

"Severus, a word please," was all that it took to get Severus out of the kitchen and into the hallway where he stood facing Harry with Sirius to his left. The kitchen door had been left slightly ajar and several sets of Extendable Ears were currently in use within.

"Yes Harry, what is it?" Severus asked coolly, "I don't have all day." Sirius was shocked by Snape's used of Harry's first name but felt another wave of surprise when he realised Harry was wearing robes and had been all along.

'_Harry never wears robes,_' Sirius thought but then again he had somehow lost a lot of memory so he probably wore them all the time and had for a while. Watching the interchange between Severus and Harry was all that it took to banish any doubt he had about this being anything but real. He knew that there was surely no way on earth he would have been able to convince him and the rest of the Order to go along with such a scheme, and he had hit his knee quite hard on the doorframe upon his exit from his room so the idea of a dream was also out of the question.

"The potion you gave Sirius yesterday – is there any chance it could have gone wrong?" Harry asked keeping his voice level.

"I seriously doubt it. Then again I didn't make it; Granger did, so take it up with her," Severus said blandly. "Why, what's wrong with your mutt?"

"Nothing much," Harry said casually before adding sharply, "he's just forgotten the last four years of his life! That's all – nothing major!"

"Oh dear," Severus said, smirking as he did so, "so he thinks you're eighteen? Must have been quite a shock to wake up to."

Harry chose not to respond and instead walked towards the kitchen.

"Just find out how to reverse it!" Harry snapped as he stalked into the kitchen with Sirius and Severus close behind. "And you can all put your Extendable Ears away!" There was a quick flurry of movement as they did just that. Harry took a seat next to Remus who smiled slightly at Harry's apparent anger and anguish whilst Sirius took the seat opposite.

"Is it true then?" one of the twins asked Sirius – he thought it was Fred. "Have you really forgotten everything since '98?"

"Apparently so," Sirius replied.

"You poor dear," Molly said as she served him a large helping of bacon and eggs.

"I'm sure either Severus or Hermione will find the antidote," Remus said reassuringly.

"It wasn't your fault anyway," Harry said dully to Severus who nodded in acceptance of his apology, or at least the closest he could get to one. Sirius stared at him as if he had grown an extra head but didn't comment, not yet anyway.

"I suppose I'd better go discover just where Granger went wrong then," Severus said after finishing his coffee. He bent down and kissed Tonks on the cheek before he Flooed to Hogwarts.

"What the hell…!" Sirius demanded once the greasy git had departed. "Are you out of your mind!" he asked, turning to Tonks.

"You leave my husband alone!" she yelled at the top of her voice and Sirius looked as if he'd just been slapped round the face.

"Husband!"

"Crikey, he really wasn't kidding about the memory loss thing, was he?" said George, grinning at Sirius's horror and Tonks's fury.

"Yes, do leave him alone Tonks," Minerva said calmly, "After all, he can't remember a thing. It's hardly fair." Tonks backed down, albeit reluctantly.

"Just think how badly Sirius took it when he woke up next to Harry then!" Fred laughed but few others did more than smile in response. Sirius glanced over at Harry who looked quite ill. Remus pressed his hand over Harry's and murmured something that Sirius didn't catch but it made Harry smile slightly.

"Stop biting your lip and eat something," Remus said a moment later, loud enough for him to hear. Harry shook his head and rose form the table.

"I'm not hungry." And with that he was gone, walking from the room and shutting the door behind him.

"Someone ought to go after him," Tonks said, glancing down the table at Remus who nodded and left the room in an instant before Sirius even had time to react.

"I never knew you were such a good actor," Remus murmured as he wrapped his arms around Harry from behind.

Harry laughed and spun round. His countenance became sober and thoughtful. "Is this cruelty?"

"Certainly but considering that he's wronged everyone within these walls many a time I think he's deserved this." Remus stopped for a moment and then added, "Don't you think it was worth it now?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted truthfully as they made their way up the stairs, although he kept his voice down even as they moved away from the kitchen; as a rule any current day conversation was to be kept at a minimal whilst Sirius was being held under the disillusion that the year was 2002. Hopefully it would prevent him discovering the year before due time. 'Due time' would be the 24th December – Christmas Eve. It was currently the 17th; Harry had one week to mould and torture Sirius as he saw fit.

"Hello…?" Remus waved his hand in front of Harry's face and he snapped out of it, whatever 'it' had been only to find himself stood in his 'old' room. "Why don't you know if it was worth it?"

"He was just so horrified this morning…" Harry began to pace and back and forth across the room.

A flicker of realisation crossed Remus's face. "I other words your own prank is hurting _you_."

"What? No, that's not true!" Harry exclaimed, stopping to face Remus.

"Isn't it? If not then why are you hurting?" Remus asked him more gently, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I know you weren't entirely acting down there – just… dramatising."

Harry didn't respond; he merely resumed his pacing back and forth, occasionally running his fingers through his hair. Remus watched him carefully, shrewdly.

"It wasn't you he rejected, Harry," Remus said as the silence began to wear on, "just the sudden idea that he's your lover, or will be in a few years."

"I know but he was _meant_ to be horrified, wasn't he?" Remus nodded and moved closer to Harry when his pacing faltered again. "So why does it feel like this?"

'_Because you're already falling for him… you must have been to think up this plan surely,_' Remus thought. "I don't know," he lied to Harry, pulling him into a well needed embrace. "I really don't."


	5. Newspapers and a Desperate Housewife

**Disclaimer:** If you recognise it then I don't own it. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

This is **Sirius/Harry slash**. Don't like? Don't read.

Newspapers And A Desperate Housewife

Downstairs breakfast had ended and most of the occupants had cleared out, all but two that was. Molly was cleaning up after the rest of the Order had left and Sirius stared down at the Daily Prophet, his eyes wandering over each of the pages. They'd all contributed to that paper, all under various pseudonyms but it was Harry who had the amusement of writing as Rita Skeeter. Of course writing for an entire week could prove troublesome and Minerva was already contemplating 'cancelling' their daily copy.

"Is this all true!" Sirius demanded of Molly as he read over the front page.

Molly felt instantly wary. "I don't know dear, I haven't read it. Who wrote the article?"

"Skeeter," Sirius informed her and didn't miss the narrowing of her eyes as she wiped the large table over. "Front page though."

He read from the article:

"_He Who Must Not Be Named struck again yesterday evening, killing fourteen Muggles in Little Whinging in Surrey. Reputedly searching for Harry Potter, it has been confirmed that the young man was in London at the time. Ministry Aurors are…_" He broke off and looked to Molly.

"Perfectly true, I'm afraid," she told him. "The Ministry owled Harry yesterday just to check he's still alive. They also had the _courtesy_ to inform him that his relatives are still very much alive. Naturally it was obvious they owled to check his state of health though."

Sirius didn't respond but he noted the tone of bitterness in her voice as she waved her wand over the sink and the washing up began to do itself.

"Would you like anything?" she asked him, hanging the tea towel up and heading towards the door.

"I'm fine, thanks," Sirius smiled gratefully. He folded the paper and set it back down on the table, not noticing when Dobby took it away to McGonagall.

He sat for a moment in his seat, looking round the kitchen which had been changed ever so slightly over the years but changed nonetheless. Thoughts of the bizarre situation he had managed to get into filtered into his mind before wandering back to Harry. Sirius sighed at the thought of him – he was the person he spent most time with in the house and now things were decidedly awkward between them. It also didn't help that he felt suddenly detached from the rest of the house.

He had been in a different time the day before, perhaps not literally but in his mind that was all he could remember, all that he knew. Everyone else seemed different, they had all aged and he felt uncomfortable and vulnerable around them, as if they were strangers. He needed some kind of guide in this time, someone who would lead him and protect him. Logically Harry was his first choice, except that he'd just rejected Harry and clearly hurt him, causing him to have run away to hide in some part of the giant house.

Sirius groaned as he dragged himself to his feet and decided that he really ought to find Harry and apologise to him if he could before it was too late. He ran up the stairs onto the first floor, regretting not going instantly after him. Now he was with Remus and he had absolutely no idea what his advice to his godson would be. Part of Sirius feared Remus telling Harry to leave him. The truth was that he couldn't bear it if Harry disliked or rejected him. It was a pity really that he'd just rejected Harry… he forced himself not to think of that though as he continued.

He pushed open his bedroom door, exhaling a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding but once inside he found that Harry was nowhere to be seen. Turning, he went back out into the landing, listening for Harry and wishing he had Remus's enhanced hearing.

Remus's bedroom was two down from his own and he presumed that would be the only other place they could be. He pushed open the door and immediately wished he hadn't.

"Jesus Christ! What's wrong with you! Put some clothes on! You're a married woman for Christ's sake!" The door slammed shut leaving an alarmed Sirius on one side and a rather flustered, half naked Tonks sprawled on Remus's bed on the other. Next time she knew she would wait until Remus was inside the room before attempting to undress.

"…sweetheart, he'll see sense. He loves you, remember?" Remus's voice floated through the door of Harry's old room.

"Doesn't bloody well seem like it," Sirius heard Harry mutter in response. Not wanting to eavesdrop on his godson and best friend, Sirius opened the door and stepped inside.

* * *

"You're a married woman for Christ's sake!" A door slammed and Harry and Remus gave each other puzzled looks before changing their conversation to a more 2002-friendly one.

Sirius didn't bother to knock as he walked into the room, finding his friend and godson just as he was meant to: in each other's arms. For a moment no one spoke or moved and Sirius took the time to glance around the room that had been Harry's.

It looked very similar, he had to say, but the walls were perhaps a little faded and the room in general seemed quite dusty. It appeared to have become a small holding room for boxes and things not in immediate use but the sun still streamed in cheerfully through the curtains, although the picture or Remus and Harry it lit did not appear nearly as cheerful.

It was Sirius who broke the silence first. "What the hell is Tonks doing lying starkers on your bed?" he demanded of Remus whose eyes widened considerable.

Harry couldn't help it when he burst out laughing. Remus raised an eyebrow and chose to focus on Harry's inappropriate reaction rather than the idea of a supposedly married woman lying on his bed. Sirius bit his lip slightly in a manner oddly reminiscent of the way in which Harry did so, wondering even when he, Harry's alleged lover, was in the room he still stood with Remus's arms around him. Remus noticed the frown that creased Sirius's forehead and with a slightly embarrassed cough Remus pulled away.

'_That's better_,' Sirius thought coolly.

"I'd better go and see what all this is about," Remus sighed and looked to Harry, "and you can explain things to Sirius." With that he was gone, leaving Harry and Sirius in a somewhat awkward silence.

"So what can possibly be said to explain away this?" Sirius asked with a smile, stepping closer to Harry.

"Not much really," Harry replied, "Tonks loves Severus, she really does but part of her still likes Remus I guess…"

"Does Snape know about this?" Sirius asked him, sounding quite perturbed. Harry merely shrugged.

"He's never said anything if he does but he's in the dungeons with Hermione a lot so maybe she's suspicious of him," Harry suggested.

"But there's what – twenty years? – between them! That's ridiculous!" Sirius said not realising what he'd done until it was too late and Harry winced. The verbal blow had not been a pleasant one.

"Yeah, well when you and I started dating everyone else seemed to stop thinking of ages as a barrier, I suppose," Harry said, turning away from Sirius and walking over to the window.

"How long have we been uh… together?" Sirius asked from behind him. Harry refocused his eyes on Sirius and his 'old' room in the reflection of the window. He looked more interested than disgusted or anxious.

"Two years on Christmas," Harry answered automatically. "You look surprised." Sirius jumped at that before he saw Harry's eyes watching him in the window. He was biting his lip again.

"For God's sake, stop that!" Sirius said and stepped over to Harry who turned to him. Harry felt his heart rate increase as Sirius ran his thumb over his bottom lip and he instantly released his teeth from it. Suddenly everything seemed far too intimate. Harry couldn't move away from Sirius, not if they were supposedly lovers but Sirius could move away from him. Strangely, Sirius didn't though. He felt frozen and ill as his own heart raced. Sirius found himself almost hoping that Harry would move away but then why would he? Sirius wondered as he stared down, his eyes drawn to Harry's and then further down to his lips.

After what felt like an eternity Harry moved but not away. He pressed forwards against Sirius and slipped his arms round his waist, warmth enveloping him instantly. Sirius swallowed as he wrapped his own arms round Harry's slender frame.

For one brief moment it was as if they were in Godric's Hollow again. It began there and it had finished there. Sirius and Harry, after tracking and destroying all four remaining Horcruxes, followed Voldemort to the spot upon which the Potters' house had once stood. With two against one the duel which had ensued was still not a walk in the park but Harry dealt the final blow and Voldemort was dead. The two survivors fell into each other's arms as relief washed over them. They stood like that for almost ten minutes before Harry remembered they'd lost Remus on the chase. He seemed quite annoyed to hear about their duel instead of having been there himself but the deed was done and they had won.

"He's back, isn't he?" Sirius said quietly and Harry nodded, confirming Sirius's fears.

"You read the Prophet then." It wasn't a question.

"How did he come back?" Sirius asked quietly, holding onto Harry as if his life depended upon it. Harry knew he would be asked this but still couldn't think of a plausible method for his return.

Harry smiled slightly and shrugged. "Unfortunately, I have no idea. I wasn't there this time. Minerva's looking into it though."

"We're at the top of his 'to kill' list I presume?" Sirius asked unnecessarily.

"Naturally," Harry responded.

"Then you're not leaving this house until he's dead," Sirius told him plainly.

Harry laughed and slipped out of his arms. "We went shopping together yesterday, love."

"I don't remember that so it doesn't count," Sirius argued with him, pulling Harry back into his arms.

"You'll remember soon , hopefully," Harry smiled. They were close again which was something to be thankful for, he supposed but at the same time he knew he had to keep pushing Sirius. He was going to spend a bizarre week coming on to his godfather.

Harry reached his fingers up to Sirius's cheek, bringing his face down to his and pressed their lips together. It was for a single fleeting moment but it was enough to get both their hearts fluttering again.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Harry grabbed his hand and pulled him from the room. Sirius felt too dazed to react as he was towed away.


	6. Conversations and Confusion

**Disclaimer:** If you recognise it then I don't own it. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

This is **Sirius/Harry slash**. Don't like? Don't read.

* * *

Conversations and Confusion

"Sirius, just relax, okay?" Remus said calmly as Sirius babbled incessantly and Remus was unable to distinguish one word from any other. He had been sitting in his room, enjoying the rare company of a good book in silence when Sirius had staggered through his door looking rather flustered. He wondered briefly whether he had happened to walk into Tonks wearing less than she ought before he banished the awful idea from his head, hoping it wasn't true.

"I can't relax!" Sirius snapped at him and paced up and down the room, unable to keep still. He reminded Remus oddly of Harry earlier on that day before Sirius had found them. After that he had gone after Tonks and shouted at her for quite a while under a silencing charm before he had hidden in his room, away from all other occupants of the house. He had no idea what it was which was bothering Sirius so much but he had to hide a grin at the knowledge that it was most likely something Harry-induced.

"Okay then, well at least try to tell me what's wrong with you," Remus sighed. Sirius was extremely exasperating at times and Harry was usually the only one who could control him… "Do I have to get Harry in here to try and calm you?"

Normally Sirius would have been affronted at the idea that Harry could control him in such a way but today he put up no pretence. "No!" he said suddenly and then he appeared embarrassed by his outburst. "No, it's okay."

"What's happened between you two?" Remus pressed, "I mean I know that you obviously aren't still dating but you're still close… What's made you so uncomfortable?"

"I-I don't know!" Sirius managed. He felt very ill and his head was spinning. Just after Harry had kissed him he had been pulled from the room and spent the rest of the day in the air with him, playing Quidditch of course. He had initially been startled by how easily Harry could move between the man who kissed him in his old room and the good friend who played Quidditch and laughed with him all afternoon. He voiced this opinion to Remus who sighed and watched him with some amusement.

"He's not changing who he is at all, Sirius," Remus told him plainly and Sirius stared at him, aware that Remus had just contradicted his entire point.

"He is! It seems like he's two different people! One who likes to hug me and kiss me far too much than is normal for a boy his age and the second as the same, natural person I've always known," Sirius retorted.

Remus rolled his eyes. "You can't call him a boy. He's a man now and has been for a very long time, especially with all he's been through. It would be an insult for you to call him anything less actually." Sirius didn't look pleased by this but didn't dispute it; clearly he agreed, albeit reluctantly. "As well as that, he's acting the way he has done with you for a long time now. Clearly the fact that you can't actually remember dating him before hasn't changed the way he feels about you and he doesn't appear to want to treat you any differently."

"But he's just so…" Sirius broke off, not knowing how to properly phrase himself.

"Have you ever thought that by behaving in the same way he usually would with you that it might bring back some of your memories at least a little faster than might have happened naturally?" Remus asked calmly, looking Sirius in the eye the whole time and wondering how he was lying this easily to his best friend. "Besides… maybe he wants you to fall back in love with him again."

"Somehow I can't see that happening," Sirius scowled at his friend who seemed to be very calm about all of this. Despite the fact that it was Remus he spoke with, seeing him as an older man made him feel odd. He wanted to go back to his own time, or at least have all his memories back. He neither knew nor cared which he wanted more.

"I don't see why not. You're going to fall in love with him soon anyway," Remus explained. Sirius shook his head in disbelief; he couldn't fall in love with Harry when he was so young. He couldn't fall in love with him _at all_! "Just give him a chance, Sirius. I don't think you'll regret it."

"Am I happy now…?" Sirius asked, aware as to how strange his question surely sounded.

"Happier than I've ever seen you," Remus smiled. Sirius nodded and sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Okay. Thanks Remus," Sirius smiled slightly in return and left the room. Remus sighed and lay back on his bed, wondering why he was playing the role of matchmaker in a strange scheme which could go horribly wrong if Sirius rejected Harry once all was said and done. Then again, Sirius had been deceived for less than a day now and already he was almost considering Harry. It was as he had predicted all along: that if Harry was the one making up his past then Sirius would believe he had to go through with it. Remus didn't know whether this was a good or a bad thing.

He put a set of strong spells around his room so that Tonks would be unable to find or disturb him and curled back up with his book which had been neglected during Sirius's stress session.

Outside on the landing, Sirius was still less than relaxed as he paced up and down. Thoughts of Harry were chasing each other round his mind and he wondered whether dating Harry was even a possibility. He had lost his memories, apparently, of the last four years which meant Harry was eighteen in his mind. Eighteen years old! He didn't want to date the boy… er, man four years ago. Did he?

Okay, so Harry was very good looking… gorgeous Sirius admitted to himself. He adored his friendship and loved spending time with him but did he want things to go further than that? He hadn't even known Harry was gay, although Sirius was well aware of his own sexuality. It's just that Harry was so… well, young, he supposed. It didn't seem right for them to be dating and yet Harry himself had said everyone got over the age barrier once they came together…

Sirius snapped out of his musings upon walking straight into Snape who shot him a highly amused and contemptuous stare. He scowled darkly at the Greasy Git and stormed off the other way. It was only once he found himself outside his own bedroom that he realised where he'd been going. He was also sure that Harry would be in there and there was no way he could face Harry.

As it turned out, Sirius wasn't given the choice as to whether or not he met Harry. The door opened a moment later and Harry walked straight into him; he hadn't suspected for a moment that Sirius would have been standing behind the door. Harry reeled backwards and strong arms caught him before he fell further.

"I'd thank you for catching me but since it's your fault I almost fell anyway…" Harry grinned at him and Sirius pulled a face in return. Harry stared up at him to find Sirius biting his lip in a way very much like himself. "I thought that was a bad habit?" Harry asked as he ran his finger over Sirius's bottom lip. Sirius jumped slightly and stared down at Harry with a mixture of horror, confusion and embarrassment on his face.

"Um… sorry," Sirius muttered, choosing not to meet Harry's eyes. Harry watched his discomfort with delight and had to work hard at not smiling. He wondered just how worried and alarmed his godfather was getting over the whole situation, especially since they were so very close a lot of the time. Harry was making sure of that; there was no way he was getting out of this without being suitably creeped out first.

"Remember why I walked into you?" Harry asked. "Apart from the fact that you were in the way, it's also because I was trying to leave."

Sirius took the hint and quickly moved out of the way, unhooking his arms from round Harry's waist. Not that he had been aware at the time that they had been there; he supposed he had just forgotten to let go when he had caught Harry. He had been staring down at Harry after all, watching his face, his eyes, his lips…

Suddenly he could feel his face becoming very warm at the implications of his thoughts. He was not thinking about his godson like that! James's son… he was meant to look after Harry, not stare at him and start drooling. Not that he had been drooling! He quickly thought.

He threw himself down on his bed – and Harry's bed too, he remembered – and stared up at the canopy over the bed. It had been charmed to sparkle and shimmer in the light. What was going on here? He wondered as his eyes stared at the lights. He let his eyes slip shut and saw the afterimages imprinted in the darkness.

Was it Harry's suggestiveness that was doing this to him? He certainly seemed confident around Sirius, but then again, he was going to end up dating him so he had every right to be. Remus's words that Harry was acting the way he had always done echoed oddly in his mind and he wondered what he'd done to deserve this. He wasn't a bad person, although he had been quite mean and embarrassing to Harry at times but that had been forever ago. Four years had passed since then, not that he could remember them. He hit his head backwards onto the pillows, glad for once that he wasn't doing that to a wall and let his mind race around with thoughts of Harry.

* * *

"I reckon he's cracking up," Bill said with a grin as he reclined back on the sofa. "He seems so stressed."

"Of course he's stressed," Minerva said reasonably, "the man thinks that he's four years further ahead of time than he really is."

"I think he's asleep," Mad Eye said as he stared up through the house into the master bedroom where Sirius lay still on the bed. Most of the Order were seated in the lounge where Mad Eye was sat so that they could discuss the odd situation they had all found themselves in.

"What about Harry and Remus?" Minerva asked him cautiously, she didn't want to find that either of them had been overhearing them talking.

"In Remus's room."

"Good," Tonks said as she curled her feet up onto the sofa. "I don't get them though. I mean, why would they want to date each other?"

"Why not?" Charlie shrugged. It was well known that he was dating a man he'd met in Diagon Alley and because of this was the most supportive of those towards Harry and Sirius. If they ever saw the blindingly obvious, that was.

"I dunno," Tonks shrugged, "I guess it's just weird! I mean they're godfather and godson…"

"They hardly act like it," Kingsley said. "They act more like friends than anything."

"Yeah, because Harry's so old for his age and Sirius is so…" Bill continued.

"Immature?" Minerva suggested as an appropriate end to his sentence. "If they want to be together then I won't be the one to stop them. Although I think that the fact that many rumours have been going around recently—" she glared at Severus who was sat in the corner at this point "—hasn't helped matters much."

"Oh come on!" Severus said suddenly. "They act like they've been shagging for years, for Merlin's sake! So I was just speaking my speculations aloud… what of that?"

"It's potentially harmful!" Minerva snapped back. "If they don't see what's so clear to everyone else then those kinds of things would only push them apart."

"Oh no. Everyone's favourite saviour won't get to shag his godfather senseless, what a shame!" Severus said in mock disappointment.

"Oh shut up, Snape!" Tonks snapped at him. "What'll Skeeter do with this kind of information…?"

"Write many ridiculous and unbelievable articles," Mad Eye said.

"No one would believe a word she said if she tried to write that Sirius and Harry were together," Kingsley said confidently. "She could post pictures of them both in a rather compromising position and the public would think she'd doctored them. Her reputation, or whatever she had of one, went down the gutter ages ago."

"What does Remus think about all this?" Tonks asked.

"I thought you'd know, being so close to him and all," Severus sneered.

"Remus is trying to get them together," Minerva said quickly, before Tonks could respond to Severus. "He thinks they'll be good for one another and they're certainly insane enough to fit well together."

"Thank you," Severus breathed. "For once someone acknowledges the fact that those two are completely out of their minds!"

"Yeah, wanting each other for starters…" Tonks muttered under her breath. "I still think it's a little weird but I guess if it makes them happy…"

"That's just it though, isn't it?" Kingsley said. "_If_ it makes them happy."

"What do you mean?" Minerva asked.

"He means that this is the most bizarre scheme in the world, cooked up by Potter who isn't even aware he wants to date Sirius yet," Mad Eye explained. "The chances of them wanting to be together after this are slim."

"You don't know that," Minerva argued. "If they get closer during this next week…"

"Then Black will still learn that he's been lied to," Severus finished for her. "The fact of the matter is that when Black finds out that he's really only in 1998 he's going to be furious. When he finds out that the boy he's been falling for planned the whole thing… who knows?"

He left the sentence hanging and, as the silence drew out, the Order members were left contemplating the fact that Sirius and Harry may be being driven further and further apart by a scheme which seemed so perfect to bring them together.

* * *

**A/N:** This was just a quick place to respond to the few reviews I have (and I'm very thankful for each and every one of them:o) )

**Black Sheep: **When Sirius finds out what's really been going on he's going to be... well he's not going to be all that pleased, let's put it that way. Harry doesn't quite grasp that he really _likes_ Sirius yet although the fact that he's actually enjoying pretending to date his godfather is going to worry him a bit. Harry'll definately be wishing that the whole thing wasn't an act and that he'd never decided to plot something so ridiculous against him anyway.

**Madam Black: **I am trying to update as soon as I can but my main focus is Search for the Soul which, although it's not being read that much here, is being read a little more elsewhere... That andI had a sudden spout of writers' block on this chapter. I should be updating at least once every week, fortnight at most though.

**Clodia: **Disclaimer up and running - as you can see!

Thanks again you reviewing peoples you. :o)


	7. Regret

**Disclaimer: **I own a grand total of nothing. Except the plot.

This is **Harry/Sirius slash**. Don't like? Then I'm confused as to why you're here right now but don't read it!

If you want answers to your reviews then you either have to a) be a member of or b) have your email address in your review somehow. I don't like answering on chapters, I've decided, because it takes up space which only ought to be for stories so that's, unfortunately, the only way I'll be answering your reviews from now on. :o)

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Regret

It was safe to say that Harry was beginning to regret this entire scheme. He felt bad about lying to Sirius, even though it was supposed to be his revenge. Sirius had been a complete prat and had humiliated and/or insulted most of the Order so he needed to have some kind of vengeance acted out upon him. It was just that now it was really happening Harry was starting to wish that he was doing something else, not just flirting and being generally way too intimate with his godfather.

It was wrong. He was certain about that. What was more wrong, if it could possibly get any worse, was that Harry was enjoying this. He was enjoying being close to Sirius and he felt rather unsettled by the fact that his heart was starting to flutter when ever he wandered into Sirius and found himself in his arms. Just like he had done when he'd opened the door only to literally walk straight into him. Staring up into startled bright blue eyes had made Harry forget how to speak for a moment. Then he had decided to make a vague attempt at wit.

"I'd thank you for catching me but since it's your fault I almost fell anyway…" His own words echoed in his head and he wished he had said something else. Something a little warmer, perhaps? Sirius had been biting his lip and Harry had wondered whether it was in a mocking gesture of himself until he realised Sirius was staring down at him, his expression showing confusion and anxiety.

Harry took a deep breath as he sank back against the wall in Grimmauld Place and slid down to the floor. Okay, so he was acting like a lover with a man twenty years older than him who happened to have been the best friend with his dead father. That in itself would be considered odd. The fact that he was enjoying it and almost anticipating the way his stomach would squirm when he was close to Sirius was more worrying still. He hit his head backwards on the wall, thoroughly regretting having ever entered into so stupid a plan. It was Snape's fault, he decided. If nothing else, he would make sure that Snape took the blame for this. Somehow.

"Enjoying the view, I see," Remus said mildly as he came across Harry staring sullenly at the skirting board on the opposite wall. Harry didn't respond and Remus rolled his eyes. He had already been doing something suspiciously close to counselling Sirius earlier on. He may as well do the same for Harry. "Do you want to come and talk for a while?"

Harry didn't respond but allowed himself to be helped to his feet and led into Remus's room. He curled his feet up beneath him on Remus's bed and wasn't particularly surprised when a glass of chilled pumpkin juice materialised in his hands. Remus seated himself down opposite Harry and watched the younger man evade his gaze for a moment or two before he spoke.

"Harry…" Remus began and Harry looked at him then. He didn't like the forlorn look on Harry's face. He stared into his eyes for a moment but didn't know why he searched for any trace of emotion. There was no way in hell he was going to be able to tell exactly what Harry was feeling from a look in his eyes, after all, he hadn't read _that_ many sickening stories in which the heroine could easily discern love in the gaze of those she stared at. It just wasn't possible… "What's wrong?"

It was a feeble attempt at getting Harry to talk to him, even Remus had to admit, but it was just very lucky for him that Harry wanted to talk. He needed to talk to someone older and infinitely wiser than himself (a status which was surprisingly easy to achieve) and Remus successfully filled that specification, as well as being one of his closest friends. It was convenient, almost too convenient. However, Harry wasn't going to push him away just because he was on the road to becoming as paranoid as Mad Eye.

"I really wish I hadn't done this," Harry muttered. "This is the most stupid thing I've ever done and I've done a hell of a lot of stupid things. I mean what the hell was I thinking!"

"That he deserved this for various acts of idiocy over the years?" Remus suggested and Harry smiled weakly.

"I don't know… I thought he did but now I feel really awful about it. He's just so convinced now that he's in the future," Harry sighed and Remus reached out to him, his fingers intertwining with Harry's. "I just…"

"You just…?"

"I just wish I didn't have to tell him!" Harry said suddenly. "How the hell am I supposed to tell him at the end of the week that he'd not really lost his memory at all?"

"With the rest of the Order behind you so that he doesn't go for your throat," Remus advised. Harry gave him a cool look at Remus's smile vanished very quickly to say he'd been imagining Sirius's face when he discovered just what had been going on in his own home. He cleared his throat and tried again, "Sirius has always been very good at taking a joke. I'm sure he'll see the funny side of things."

"Before or after he kills me?"

"Hopefully before," Remus said with a smile and moved around so that he was sat next to Harry. He wrapped a comforting arm around him and Harry sighed as he leant against him for support, both emotional and physical. "Look, Sirius loves you. A rather cruel but well deserved joke won't change that."

"I know but … I, he … I can't stand this … every time he's near me … I just … Why the hell did I think this was a good idea!" Harry exclaimed and threw himself backwards onto the pillows. Well, he tried to do that but he hit his head on the headboard as he did so. Remus tried hard to bite back a smile. He congratulated himself on doing so well.

"You know exactly what I'm going to say, Harry," Remus said mildly as he watched the frustrated teenager next to him with only the slightest flicker of amusement on his face.

"Really? I never knew my Legilimency had become so good," Harry said sarcastically.

"Aren't we witty today?" Remus smiled serenely which only seemed to irritate Harry more.

"Go on then!" Harry sighed. "What are you going to say?"

"I told you so," Remus said simply and watched the confusion on Harry's face escalate to something along the lines of incredulity. He was clearly irritated and had absolutely no idea that Remus had forewarned him of the situation he had managed to land himself in.

"You told me so! You told me that I'd end up hating my plan after only one day!" Harry almost yelled.

"No, I believe I said something along the lines of 'you could fall in love with Sirius or he with you'," Remus said in the same calm tone. By this point Harry was openly gaping at him and half sat up if only to stare at Remus more.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Harry asked, his voice not holding quite as much venom as he had wanted it to. He was beginning to feel all too aware of what Remus was saying.

"You know what I'm talking about," Remus told him and ran his fingers through Harry's hair gently. "You're falling for Sirius and you're confused and furious with yourself."

"I –"

"Don't interrupt," Remus said and continued. "Look, this hasn't just happened today. Severus had been speculating on the not-so-platonic relationship between Sirius and yourself for weeks now."

"He has!" Harry demanded and sat up straight at that. He couldn't believe that Snape would be spreading malicious gossip about him and Sirius and no one had told him until now! "What's he been saying!"

"Nothing too far from the truth in all honestly," Remus said, hoping that Harry would go and shout at Snape for this. "He just said that your relationship was hardly what it ought to be and that you behaved more like a couple than father and son."

Harry looked shocked, then furious, then shocked _and_ furious whilst his mouth opened and closed soundlessly for around thirty seconds. He eventually gave in and looked to Remus.

"This isn't fair! Why me?" Harry groaned.

"Sirius is in a worse position, surely?" Remus said. "He's under the belief that it's four years later than it really is."

"Oh my god… he's going to hate me when I tell him what's going on," Harry muttered.

"He won't. He still loves you," Remus explained, "but he will be angry. There's no denying that. Just try and get as close to him as you can this week in the hope that he'll remember how much he does love you when it comes to it."

"That's terrible advice," Harry scowled.

"You got yourself into this mess and now it doesn't seem like there's an easy way to get out of it," Remus told him. "You could reveal the entire thing now but I don't think he'd take it much better either way. You may as well go on with it this week and let Sirius see what dating you would be like."

"I cannot believe this…" Harry groaned as he slumped back onto the bed. "I hate my life, I really do."

* * *

It had been a very long day, both Sirius and Harry would have agreed to that. In one day Sirius had come to terms with the fact that he was supposedly lacking four years of memories and that he might well have been slowly falling for Harry. Likewise, Harry was now in a state of absolute confusion concerning Sirius. He could not believe that Snape had been spreading rumours about them for months and resolved to get some form of revenge against him for it.

"Are you sure about this, Sirius?" Harry asked as he stood next to their bed wearing only a pair of pyjama bottoms. "I can sleep in my old room if you're not comfortable with it."

"It doesn't matter. We used to sleep in the same bed when you had nightmares before," Sirius reasoned more with himself than with Harry, "so there's nothing new there."

"Suit yourself." Harry slipped between the sheets and Sirius froze momentarily before leaning over and pressing a kiss to Harry's cheek.

"Good night," he murmured and Harry felt his stomach squirm. He silently cursed Remus for pointing out the bleeding obvious to him before he turned off the light and both of them eventually sank into sleep.


	8. Manic Measuring

**Disclaimer: **I own a grand total of nothing. Except the plot.

This is **Harry/Sirius slash**. Don't like? Then I'm confused as to why you're here right now but don't read it!

I love you reviewers! Kisses for all! Mwuah! (sorry for a long time updating but I'm on a rotational system with my two other stories... I'll try and be faster next time:o) )

* * *

Manic Measuring

It was the tickling of something against his neck that woke Harry up on Day Two of his ingenious plan which was not seeming quite as ingenious as he'd first thought. Harry tried to move away from whatever it was against his neck and began to drift back to sleep again but the tickling thing was relentless and moved against him again.

"What the bloody hell at this time of morning…!" Harry managed to mumble under his breath as he opened a pair of bleary eyes and slipped on his glasses. Sirius was curled up against him with one of his legs thrown over Harry's to prevent his escape. His head had been leant between Harry's shoulder and his neck, hair brushing against him mercilessly until he awoke.

Of course, Harry noted with some irritation, Sirius was still fast asleep.

The slightest of smiles touched Harry's lips; Sirius looked so sweet when he was sleeping. His eyes ran over his peaceful features and down the nape of his neck towards his bare chest. A sharp intake of breath could be heard as Harry realised what he was doing and tore his gaze away, but not without realising that he had done so reluctantly.

"_You're falling for Sirius and you're confused and furious with yourself_," Remus said mildly in his head. Harry groaned and sank back into the pillow, only to have Sirius curl up closer to him. He briefly wondered whether the fact that Remus's words repeating constantly in his head had anything to do with the devious man himself, or just his own depletion of sanity. He decided upon the latter.

"Oh this is so bad…" Harry thought miserably as he disentangled himself from Sirius and got out of bed, leaving the room and making his way down to an early breakfast. Early for those in Grimmauld Place, anyway.

It wasn't long after Harry had left the room that Sirius awoke, alone, in a bed which did not feel like his own. That was because Minerva had been putting charms on it for about an hour the previous day, not that he knew that. He blindly reached out an arm into the space that he knew Harry occupied in their bed, not aware that he was lying sprawled across the entire thing until his hand made contact with the end of the mattress.

Bleary eyes flickered open and scanned the room for any sign of Harry but found none. The only trace of Harry in his room was his lingering scent on the pillow and almost unconsciously Sirius curled up on Harry's side of the bed, safe in the knowledge that the same sheets had been wrapped around Harry not long since and his head on the same pillow.

As he stared around the room, unaware that he had wrapped his arms around himself to compensate for a body which should have been next to him, Sirius wondered what Minerva had been thinking. He had the feeling that he would wake up every day wondering for a brief moment whether he was well and truly back in Gryffindor again, the red and gold décor all too reminiscent of his past to be a good thing.

Eventually Sirius sighed and managed to heave himself out of bed. After a brief shower, during which he almost fell asleep standing, he meandered downstairs for some breakfast.

"I'd laugh if Sirius and Harry got it together," Tonks said from the table just as the kitchen door opened and Sirius walked in.

"Really? Why's that?" Sirius asked as he sat down next to Remus and opposite Harry.

Tonks babbled incoherently for a few moments until she managed to make actual words form in her mouth. "Erm… well that is to say that you've already fallen in love once."

Sirius stared at her blankly, waiting for more but no more was said by her as she buried her face in that day's Daily Prophet. Sirius remained staring at her in a bemused fashion however and his eyes wandered down to the Prophet in her hands.

Kingsley almost choked on his cereal when he saw the Prophet that Tonks was reading; it wasn't one that they had manufactured and the actual date featured prominently on its cover whilst snow rained down on the picture on the front page. Apparently he wasn't the only one that had spotted the interesting-looking newspaper.

"Can I have a look at that when you're done, Tonks?" Sirius asked her nonchalantly.

"Could you pass the toast, Kingsley?" Harry asked suddenly and sent a meaningful look towards the man sat two seats down from him.

"Of course," Kingsley said and pulled his wand out. The toast levitated into the air and then moved towards Harry until it fell out of the air, landing in the pot of jam. The spoon inside the jar catapulted a large amount of it all over the front of the newspaper where it dripped down onto Tonks.

"Nicely done, Shacklebolt," Tonks said furiously as she vanished the paper and changed her robes into a different set with a wave of her own wand. "What the hell did you think you were doing!"

"Sorry, Tonks," Kingsley said as sincerely as he could under the circumstances. "I didn't mean to. I think I might have snapped one of the unicorn hairs in my wand." He spent a moment or two examining the strip of wood for any discernible defects but, upon finding none, he pocketed it and went back to breakfast. He didn't look at Sirius or Harry.

Everyone else, on the other hand, _was_ looking at Sirius and Harry and it was getting to the point of worrying for both of them. Sirius was still partly irritated that the one paper on the table had been vanished by Tonks but clearly there was nothing he could do about it now. He glanced at Harry and saw the way he avoided looking at anyone else. He was staring down at his uneaten breakfast and not responding to Remus's mild words. Eventually he glanced up at them when Remus pressed his hand over Harry's but he merely smiled and relapsed back into his dreamy state. Part of Sirius realised that it should have been he who touched Harry and brought him back to life, not Remus and he gave his friend a cool look.

Harry was ready to leave Grimmauld Place, screaming and running as far and as fast as he possibly could. He was sick and tired of everyone staring at him and it was becoming the way it had been at school. The constant looks at him almost drove him insane. Of course then it hadn't mattered because he hadn't been trying to get his godfather to like him in a romantic sense whilst lying to him. Back then he'd had friends to support him. Ron had been there for him, so had Ginny and Hermione. Of course one of them had died now and another one was locked up in Azkaban with all the other Death Eaters. That just left Hermione.

"Harry, are you sure you're all right?" Remus murmured to him and he glanced up to see that everyone's eyes were mostly trained on him and Sirius although they were all caught up in their own conversations.

"I'm fine," Harry replied as he chased some scrambled egg around his plate with his fork. His train of thought had disappeared until he heard someone mention Hermione further down.

She was still one of his closest friends but having her fiancé turn out as a Death Eater had hit her hard. She wasn't quite the same after all that and was in training as a Potions master so their lie that she was working with Snape and living in the school wasn't too farfetched. Their relationship had also been under speculation recently but few could see what attraction Snape could hold to a young girl and it had been let go almost as soon as it was picked up.

"I'm going now so take care, won't you?" Remus said quietly to Harry as the table began to clear and Harry's thoughts began to also. He glanced up at Remus and nodded, the slightest of smiles on his face.

"I will," Harry replied. The first words he'd spoken that morning except for the request of the toast from Kingsley earlier on. "Where are you going anyway?"

"Just out for the day," Remus replied casually and then added in an undertone, "I don't think I can take any more of this insanity… Make sure you tell me of any new developments whilst I'm gone." He smiled, pressed his lips to Harry's temple and then left through the fireplace with Minerva and Mad Eye although he didn't hear their destination over the chatter around him.

He looked across the table and saw that Sirius was running his eyes over his face. He looked worried and Harry supposed he couldn't really blame Sirius; after all, he'd spent the meal staring at his meal lost in his thoughts.

Harry gave him a slight smile. "Are you okay?"

"Asks the one with a sudden fascination for scrambled eggs," Sirius said with a lopsided smile. He got up from the table and walked towards the door, well aware that Harry was following him.

"What's up?" Harry asked once they were outside. It was an unspoken agreement between them that when one of them dropped a conversation and walked out of the room that the other usually followed to talk in a more private place.

"That's what I want to know," Sirius replied as he studied Harry again. He was definitely exhausted and not eating too well; it seemed that it was hard to shake the old habits. "You spent the entire meal staring at your food and you didn't respond to anyone. What's going on with you?"

'_I'm not in my twenties… I'm eighteen, I lied to you. I'm sorry… Please love me,_' Harry thought. "Nothing, just everyone staring – it reminds me of school."

Sirius stared at him for a moment. He was sure that there was more to be said but he didn't press Harry further. "All righty then, what do you want to do today?"

"I don't know… nothing much really," Harry told him truthfully.

"Let's go plot against Snape," Sirius suggested but Harry merely shook his head and smiled.

"When are you going to let that go, Sirius?" Harry asked him. "Everyone else has left him alone now. They all got to know him and they all like him. There's only you that's hesitant to get to know him."

"Surely not Remus—"

"They're not the best of friend, admittedly, but they're civil at least!" Harry said and Sirius pouted.

"As adorable as you look doing that, it's not going to change my mind," Harry grinned and Sirius flashed him a smile.

"I look adorable!" he laughed and wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders. "And my adorability will change your mind, watch!"

Sirius changed into Padfoot and curled up at Harry's feet. A series of definite pleading sounds met Harry's ears as he sat down next to him.

"Stop being a fool, Siri," Harry smiled as he ran his fingers through the fur on his head. "This isn't going to work on me and I'm not going to make crazy schemes against Severus with you."

Sirius carried on looking pleading even as Harry moved to get up. He leant down and pressed a light kiss to the top of his nose before standing up and walking into the lounge without so much as a glance behind him.

"Do you know what I don't get?" Harry said to the small group in the lounge after he'd been staring around him for some time.

"Why people would like Snape?" Tonks suggested.

"How Sirius can be so gullible?" Kingsley asked.

"How Tonks managed to get a Daily Prophet this morning?" Charlie added.

"Why—"

"Okay, _okay!_ Stop guessing!" Harry grinned at them before Bill could make a suggestion. "I don't understand why this room is so much shorter than the kitchen."

"That's it!" Tonks demanded.

"Well I don't understand all the things you suggested either but that's not the point," Harry said.

"Have you heard of magic, Harry?" Bill asked him lightly. "It's amazing… it can give more space in a room as well."

"Yes, I know that, but the kitchen hasn't been stretched by magic," Harry explained, sounding increasingly more exasperated.

"Really? How can you tell?" Tonks asked him.

"There's a spell that can do it," Harry told her. "McGonagall taught me it before I took my NEWTs because it suddenly appeared on the curriculum." Harry scowled slightly in remembrance of the sudden changes in the lessons they had to learn just before their major exams. It had caused two Hufflepuffs and a Ravenclaw to have a breakdown trying to catch up again.

"So the kitchen hasn't been magically altered, so what?" Kingsley asked.

"The house is perfectly square," Tonks said, catching on.

"So that means that this room has a really thick wall or there's something behind it," Harry finished and the other three looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"It's very farfetched," Charlie said finally but Kingsley shook his head.

"I don't think so," he disagreed. "The Blacks could easily have hidden things behind their walls or have passageways or anything!"

"Looks like we know what we're doing for the rest of the day then," Tonks said cheerfully and looked to Bill and Charlie who still looked slightly sceptical.

"You can count me out – I promised I'd take Fleur Christmas shopping in Hogsmeade this afternoon," Bill said and rose to his feet. "Happy hunting."

"I'm tagging along with them," Charlie said, sounding unhappy at the prospect of being with the married couple and followed him out.

"Let's go then!" Tonks said and was already out of the room by the time Kingsley and Harry got to their feet to follow her loudly thudding feet up the stairs.

'_What the hell is that?_' Sirius wondered as loud thudding met his ears. He was lying on his bed, a book in his hands, although his eyes scanned the page idly and didn't take in any of the information in front of him. His mind kept wandering over Harry's worried face at breakfast and hearing himself pronounced as adorable and having Harry curl up next to him to sleep and Harry kissing the end of his nose as Padfoot…

This was no good, Sirius decided as he abandoned his book and got to his feet. He trailed over to the window and stared out at the gardens beyond, long since become too wild to tame. The thudding around the house was becoming louder again and nearby a bedroom door slammed shut. He sat down on the edge of the window and stared around the room. The decorations had to change; he didn't like waking up and thinking he was in school again.

He idly waved his wand and started to change the room around a little: the curtains changed to a deep blue and the walls to a mixture of blues and greens. Lily, always one for decoration, would have been proud of his Charms work.

'_Well at least that took my mind off inappropriate thoughts of Harry…_' he thought almost smugly and then realised what he'd thought. He hit his head backwards against the wall a few times and the thudding outside started again in time with it. As the pounding got louder he realised that he could hear voices as well.

Harry's voice.

Sirius wanted to be outside with him and running about, doing whatever the hell it was he'd decided to do with his day. He hadn't appeared to have wanted to do anything much when he'd asked him but now that he, Sirius, was out of the way for a while he was running round with Merlin only knew who doing Dumbledore only knew what! It wasn't fair!

"… after this then Sirius's room, okay?" That was Harry, Sirius could tell his voice anywhere.

"Oooo… and I bet you're just hoping that he's in there, waiting for you!" Tonks laughed. Sirius didn't know where they were but he didn't like the fact that he appeared to be making part of their conversation. An amusing part of it too.

"Yes, Sirius will be sat there waiting for us to come running round with a tape measure and find out whether his room's been charmed," Harry said dryly. "Such a romantic situation."

"Of course… it's the _room_ you'll be measuring, right Har?" Kingsley said and Tonks started to laugh.

"Oh shut up, you imbeciles," Harry said and Sirius smiled in his room. The voices died down then and Sirius couldn't tell what they were saying any longer. All he knew was that they would be in his room next, measuring things with a tape measure. He felt a slightly pleasurable squirm in his stomach as the voices picked up again and his bedroom door opened.

"Hey fools," Sirius greeted and wandered over to Harry automatically as he entered the room shortly followed by Tonks and Kingsley. Tonks and Kingsley stepped past him into the room and began measuring his room whilst Harry cast a quick spell over one of the walls. Sirius noticed that he was carrying a pad of Muggle paper with some kind of Muggle writing stick.

"It's been changed but I can't tell where," Harry said once the spell had ended and had almost blinded Sirius at the same time. Kingsley and Tonks carried on their measuring whilst Harry added to his map of the house on the paper and drew a more detailed view of the room over the page.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked as he came up behind him and peered over Harry's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around the smaller man's waist and pulled Harry back against him. Harry didn't resist and let himself be held around his middle.

"I'm making a map," Harry replied evasively. Sirius didn't think that a map would warrant manic measuring.

"I see, and is there any reason why you need to measure everything for that?" Sirius asked as he leaned in towards Harry and rested his head on Harry's shoulder. Harry let Sirius nuzzle his neck and then press light kisses to it. Harry didn't know why Sirius was doing this but he had absolutely no problem with it at all.

"Because, that's why," Harry replied with a slight smile as he moved his head to the side to give Sirius better access to his neck. Sirius didn't know why Harry was letting him do this but he didn't appear to have any problem with it as his kisses lingered longer and longer. "I like the new room, any reason you changed it?"

"Why thank you, and there was no reason really," Sirius smiled slightly at the praise as he pressed another kiss to his neck and opened his mouth so his tongue could run along Harry's skin.

"Hem hem," Tonks managed in an accurate representation of Umbridge and Sirius and Harry froze, his pencil long since ceased drawing in the details of the room. "Now that you've quite finished I thought you might actually want the measurements of the room…"

"Uh, yeah," Harry managed as he felt his face growing slightly warmer although Sirius didn't let go of him, for which he felt glad. He didn't quite dare look over to Kingsley and Tonks though as Tonks read out the measurements and he recorded them.

"Right, Harry's room next," Kingsley said and made for the door.

"We'd ask you to join us, Sirius," Tonks said apologetically, "but we think you'd be a bit of a distraction for Harry." She winked and the three of them left Sirius alone again with the taste of Harry's skin lingering on the tip of his tongue. It wasn't a bad way to be left alone, Sirius decided as he threw himself back onto his bed. Not a bad way at all.


	9. Speed Shopping

**Disclaimer: **I own a grand total of nothing. Except the plot.

This is **Harry/Sirius slash**. Don't like? Then I'm confused as to why you're here right now but don't read it!

* * *

Speed-Shopping

Harry tried to hide the smile that brightened his face as he wandered along the landing with Tonks and Kingsley but it wasn't working that well. Tonks was grinning at him inanely whilst Kingsley chuckled slightly.

"So things are going quite well between you and Sirius, all things considered," Kingsley smiled as he sauntered along. Harry kept his head down as he glanced over the plans of the house in his hands and tried not to think about the blush staining his cheeks or the way Tonks was ready to burst into hysterical laughter.

"You could say that," Harry said lightly, aware that Sirius would have cast a good few spells over the walls which would allow him to listen in on them. He was aware that already Tonks was becoming more lax as to the attitude she took towards the entire scheme he had concocted. This could not happen. He had to keep Sirius believing he was four years head of time for another five days which may be enough time to make him happy enough not to kill him. That was the theory anyway.

"Oh puhlease!" Tonks said loudly. "I've never seen two people more made for each other and once this week's over then Sirius will have no choice but to proclaim himself madly in love with you… once all is revealed."

She knew she shouldn't have said that when both Harry and Kingsley spun round to face her, their eyes wide. Tonks opened her mouth to apologise but Kingsley silenced her with a flick of his wand and Harry shook his head in disbelief. She was in for it now, she knew that much.

"Once all is revealed…?" Sirius asked himself as the voices of those outside on the landing faded away again. "What's that supposed to mean?"

* * *

"I'm telling you, Minerva," Remus said calmly as he walked down the street with her on one side of him and Mad Eye stalking along the other, "by the time we get back Tonks will have said something awful and irreversible."

"And Black will have murdered Potter," Mad Eye said blackly.

"Coming home to a murder scene is not quite what I wanted for Christmas," Minerva said as she turned into Flourish and Blotts with a small list of books she was planning on purchasing. Strictly for Christmas presents… well, okay – mostly for Christmas presents.

She picked up three books almost instantly and Remus wondered whether they'd be back at Grimmauld Place within the hour. Speed-shopping was an interesting experience so far, although he never got much bought himself. He'd have to steal Harry from Sirius for the day and have a leisurely shopping trip.

"So what exactly do you think Tonks will do to warrant Potter's death?" Minerva asked as she walked quickly along the shelves. Mad Eye was having to hobble at top speed to keep up with her whilst running his magical eye over half the books in the shop.

"She made two mistakes at breakfast this morning," Mad Eye said, sounding almost disgusted. "Two!"

"Sirius noticed the paper, I'm certain of it," Remus said grimly as he remembered the hidden interest Sirius had of seeing the Prophet that morning. It was just lucky that Kingsley had tactfully catapulted jam all over it before Sirius had got to it. "And her loudly proclaiming that she'd laugh if Sirius and Harry got together didn't help matters much."

"One more mistake like that and I'm doing something about her," Mad Eye growled. Minerva raised an eyebrow as she ran her eye over his agitated features. She had never seen the man so irritated before, but she didn't know he had reason to be so. It was Harry's scheme, not his own. Perhaps he simply didn't like the idea of something involving him failing. Or perhaps he didn't like a fellow Auror causing so many problems.

"Really?" Minerva asked with a definite tone of doubt in her voice. "And what exactly are you going to do?"

"You'll see…" Mad Eye growled as they strode over to the tills. Remus had yet to actually buy anything since he had never had long enough to think everything over. Minerva seemed either able to make excellent snap decisions or she already had everything planned out in her mind. Remus felt sure that she had all the fastest routes to the next thing she wanted to buy in her mind.

"Murder is illegal, remember that," Minerva reminded him lightly as she left the bookshop with Remus and Mad Eye almost running after her again.

* * *

Dinner arrived quickly and with it came Remus, Minerva and Mad Eye. It was a full house that night, at least there was everyone there who was in on the futuristic plan that Harry had created. The three who had been out for the day sat at one end of the table, all chattering between themselves. Tonks featured prominently in their conversation and what they ought to do if she did anything which could jeopardise the plan.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Tonks, Kingsley, Harry, Bill and Charlie were all talking animatedly about their finds in their mapping of the house. It was clear that there were certain areas which were either really thick sections of wall or perhaps passageways within the house. Harry thought it was unlikely that anyone would believe in passageways until they saw them, which was why they were keeping things quiet for then.

He wasn't paying attention to anyone else during dinner, only those who sat around him and the thoughts of how best to attempt to get into these secret chambers and passageways behind the walls. There were some very clear rooms here and there, with a small passage from the lounge up to Sirius's room – the master bedroom.

Harry was so absorbed in the finds of the day that he didn't notice Sirius watching him and trying to catch his eye. He didn't realise when Sirius finally gave up and went back to his meal and he wasn't aware of the glances that kept going in his direction from the same man.

Remus did notice as he let his gaze wander between the two of them. Sirius was attracted to Harry, he was sure of it. He just needed to see them together and interacting for a while to make sure. He only hoped that the amount they cared for each other would be enough to withstand the after effects of the prank. After all, Sirius might find the twenty-three year old Harry attractive but what about the nineteen year old?

He bit his lip and tried not to think of how badly this was likely to go for both of them. Remus wanted them to be together and to be happy but at the moment neither of those seemed likely to occur, not under the current circumstances and Remus was unable to change them. Not unless Sirius found out early which could be even more disastrous.

'_Why won't they tell me what they're doing?_' Sirius wondered as he watched Harry. The sketchbook had made another appearance at the table and it was being hurriedly flicked through. Sirius watched as Harry pointed to a specific place on a drawing and was explaining it in detail to Bill who nodded and smiled thoughtfully. Whatever was going on had clearly been Harry's idea and apparently it was working. Sirius just wished he knew why he had been excluded from the scheme.

Perhaps Tonks was right… perhaps he would be a distraction. God only knew that Harry was distracting for him and he wasn't even attracted to Harry. Well… he'd like to think that he wasn't. With his wild hair, glasses that didn't make him look like a child, perfect figure…

'_Oh Merlin, this is so bad…_' Sirius thought as he forced his gaze away from Harry and down to his plate. Although even as he did so, part of Sirius began to wonder whether it was really that bad that he was after Harry. They would be together when Harry was around twenty and from then on… that clearly indicated that they were close. That they were in love.

Sirius's heart fluttered at the idea and he couldn't help but stare up the table once more at Harry. Could he do this…? Could he fall in love with someone so easily and want to spend the rest of his life with that one person. Did he want to live with Harry for as long as he lived? Apparently he had already made the choice a long time ago and he had just forgotten it. Forgotten four years of his life with Harry.

Sirius bit his lip as the thoughts ran through his mind, unconsciously mimicking Harry's signal of worry and uneasiness. The meal passed quickly but his mind was still fixed on Harry, occasionally wondering to whatever it was Harry had been drawing in that pad and why he had needed to take so many measurements of the house. He wondered if he'd ever know and if Harry would ever take him into his confidence.

That evening Sirius lay in bed, partly reading and partly waiting for Harry to appear in their room. He wanted to see him, he wanted to be curled up next to the young man so that he could talk and figure out his feelings. He smiled at that thought. Sirius Black with feelings; if someone had suggested that whilst he was in school he would have laughed hysterically for a while and probably hexed them shortly afterwards.

He wasn't in school now though, was he? He had left school a long time ago, and even Harry had left school now. He briefly wondered whether age was such a big issue. In the wizarding world people married things of entirely different species altogether, twenty years wasn't particularly horrific. However, the fact that they were godfather and son would easily make some problems for them in the press… then again, that was already dealt with and had been years ago. But how were they perceived by people? They couldn't be thought of all that badly in Grimmauld Place if others had followed their example surely?

Sirius's thoughts were cut off as Harry walked into their room. He put the book down that he had been reading and smiled when Harry threw himself down next to him.

"Good evening, gorgeous," Sirius greeted him with a smile.

Harry smiled and leant against him. "'Evening."

"So are you going to tell me just what you were planning earlier?" Sirius asked lightly as he waved his wand over Harry and changed him into the plain pyjama bottoms that he slept in although he raised an eyebrow when the shirt he had thought of with it failed to materialise.

"Nope," Harry smiled as he slid under the duvet, noticing Sirius's eyes lingering on his torso. "Oh, my shirt got rather burnt earlier on if you were wondering."

There was a moment of quiet as Sirius tore his eyes away from Harry's chest. It wasn't as if he had never seen it before; he had and quite recently but it seemed as if he had just noticed how very well built Harry was. Of course, he had to be strong and fast when the war was on. The weakest and the slowest were the first to go and most of the time it was only their speed coupled with sheer luck that had kept half the Order alive.

"How did you manage that?" Sirius managed to choke out and avoided looking at Harry again.

"Well it was Tonks actually… she was teasing the tape measure when we were measuring in here and set it on fire," Harry smiled. "I'm surprised you failed to notice actually, despite her apparent subtlety as she extinguished it."

Sirius shrugged. "I had my attention on other things," he smirked and Harry blushed slightly as he snuggled up under the bedding, his mind wandering back to Sirius's mouth on his neck that afternoon.

"Well to say you weren't paying attention to anything other than that, you were okay," Harry said mildly, "I suppose."

Sirius raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes slightly. "How odd… because you seemed to think it was rather more than 'okay' earlier on." He grinned and Harry wondered whether that was good or bad. He didn't have time to get to a conclusive answer before he found Sirius on top of him, his mouth once again on Harry's neck.

"Okay, maybe you are quite good at this…" Harry admitted as he tilted his head to the side and felt Sirius smile against his throat. Strong hands were on his waist and a slight shiver passed through him when he realised it was _Sirius _doing this. It was _Sirius_ who pressed their bodies closer and made him heat up so unbearably. It was _Sirius_ who was going to kill him for the joke he'd played in less than a few days and it was _Sirius_ who may never forgive him and who Harry could not live without.


	10. Just Knock

**Disclaimer: **I own a grand total of nothing. Except the plot.

This is **Harry/Sirius slash**. Don't like? Then I'm confused as to why you're here right now but don't read it!

* * *

Just Knock

Sirius opened his eyes and smiled. He wasn't aware that he had moved during the night but apparently he had, and he wasn't the only one. He lay in the middle of the large bed he shared with Harry with its co owner lying draped across him. The neck he had found so much delight in tormenting was covered now by a duvet, but he didn't want to go for his throat at this time in the morning. It would hardly be fair considering that Harry was so peacefully sleeping against him.

His mind drifted back to the night before. He had been on top of Harry, kissing his throat, running his hands along his body. It had been enjoyable. Okay, _very_ enjoyable. Just as his fingers slid up Harry's body and their lips moved together… the door had burst open and Tonks had come flying through it.

So after Tonks had thrown herself inside, realised what was going on and blushed excessively Remus had had to come in and drag her out. Tonks might have been a bleeding idiot but Remus wasn't and the smile that lingered on his face as he left them alone said far too much. Once they'd left, he and Harry had settled back down but neither of them had wanted to, or been able to continue then… Damn that witch.

He sighed as he carefully got out of bed, managing to be quiet and careful enough to prevent Harry from waking. Then, just before reaching the door Sirius stubbed his toe on the chest of drawers and swore loudly. A bright pair of eyes watched him with amusement from their bed and Harry tried not to laugh as he quickly swallowed his four drops of potion. He had almost forgotten them the morning before and Sirius would have had a hell of a shock then.

"Think it's funny, do you?" Sirius asked as he leapt back onto the bed and on top of Harry who could no longer contain himself and began to laugh. Sirius smiled and shook his head – at least one of them found it amusing. He took the opportunity to glance down at Harry who was showing his bare torso off quite nicely in the way he reclined back and propped himself up on his elbows.

There was a moment in which they both froze before Sirius bent down to kiss him and one of Harry's arms reached up to him, his fingers tangling in Sirius's hair and pulling him closer. Their eyes fluttered shut as the distance between them decreased and then disappeared altogether. Lips brushed together tantalisingly and then…

"Wotcher kids… oops!"

"Have you heard of knocking, Tonks!" Sirius barked as he pulled away from Harry and twisted around to face her. She froze in the doorway looking both foolish and embarrassed as, once again, she searched for what to say.

"You know, as much as I love you Tonks sometimes it's nice to have a little privacy," Harry said mildly and slipped out from underneath Sirius. A wave of his wand later and Harry left with her, leaving Sirius sat alone on the bed with lips which still tingled from their brief encounter with Harry's.

"It wasn't my bleeding fault!" Tonks complained loudly at breakfast when Sirius told of how she'd come marching in whilst he buttered his bread heavily and threw buttered crumbs onto Snape's robes. Dimly he wondered whether the Marmite had come out very easily from the day before. Sirius was shocked to find that there was indeed an upside to sitting with Snape. He was also surprised to find that there was no paper on the table that morning…

"Tonks, you've walked in on us twice in the last twelve hours or so," Harry sighed. "Just knock, for Merlin's sake!"

Harry glanced at Remus who was smiling behind a cup of tea. Harry raised an eyebrow at him but Remus merely shook his head slightly. He didn't want Harry to know that the entire house had been buzzing with the news that he and Sirius had been caught the night before. God only knew what the news of Tonks walking in that morning would do to the group.

"Severus, do try to control your wife," Kingsley grinned, glad that he wasn't sat near the fearsome man but that his jibes would still be heard.

Tonks opened her mouth, her face contorted with fury. "I am NOT—!"

"_Silencio_!" Remus said quickly and Tonks fell quiet. She was still waving her arms around and managed to knock over two glasses of pumpkin juice before Mad Eye put her in a full-body bind and she fell onto the floor.

"A little drastic, don't you think…?" Sirius asked mildly as he watched Tonks's eyes darting around.

"I'm not putting up with her inane screeching at this time of the morning," Remus said and then added, "whether her husband chooses to hex me for it or not."

Severus gave him a cold stare. "At least I could afford to keep a wife, Lupin."

"And a younger lover as well, no doubt…" Remus added as he took a bite from his toast. His tone was still perfectly mild but Severus was getting annoyed by his additions to the fictitious lifestyle he supposedly had.

"My business is my own," Snape snarled, "and don't you forget it."

"But surely it is also the business of your wife," Minerva said, choosing to get involved in the strange conversation. The unfortunate thing was that whatever someone said happened in the life of someone else had to be committed to memory should Sirius ask about it at a later date. It was a fun way of getting revenge for everything he had ever done to them but it had its tough parts too.

"Perhaps, but it is not yours. I do not pry into your life," Severus said and then a slight smile touched his lips. Minerva wished she had remained silent. "No matter if it _is_ riddled with illegal potions which produce all kinds of effects."

"It was you who first made me Ampharelyn, Severus," Minerva said coolly. "It is you I ought to blame for any _necessary_ potion-taking I may now have to endure."

Harry stared down at his breakfast, trying desperately not to smile at the idea of Minerva taking Ampharelyn – it was like the Wizarding version of heroin and was highly illegal.

"Yes, didn't you squander all the money you had been granted to attempt a non-addictive Ampharelyn substitute on spirits?" Harry asked mildly. This was far too fun.

"Spirits and dragon hide clothes I seem to remember," Charlie said with a grin from the other end of the table. "He has an entire set of robes made out of it."

"And we never see you wearing them," Fred agreed, suddenly looking like Christmas had come early. However, considering that Christmas was only a few days away that said very little.

Snape looked ready to explode by this point and Remus suddenly began to choke on a mixture of toast and laughter.

"Here," Minerva said and handed him a glass of pumpkin juice.

"It's okay Minerva, I'll do it," Snape said and threw his own pumpkin juice at Remus before he stormed out of the room, leaving everyone in stunned silence and Remus still laughing and choking at the same time as juice dripped from his hair. There was silence and then Snape shouted from the hallway, "WHY THE HELL IS THERE BREAD AND BUTTER ALL OVER MY ROBES!"

"What on earth was all that about?" Sirius asked in utter confusion once his laughter had died down. The only response he got was another bout of hysterical laughter and choking from Remus. "Oh forget it, you useless sod." Sirius shook his head at Remus in disbelief before he wandered off out of the room, almost tripping over Tonks as he did so.

* * *

"Thank you for finally releasing me, you maniacs!" Tonks shouted at them once she was finally freed from the spell which bound her and let loose again. It was mid-afternoon and Remus, Minerva, Severus and Mad Eye watched as Tonks walked out of the room, noting the cool look she gave to her 'husband' as she left.

"Something must be done," Remus said grimly. "She's come too close to giving us away too many times."

"Sometimes I wonder whether it might be better in the long run for things to end now," Minerva said thoughtfully as she glanced at the rest of them. "After all, how can things possibly end well between Harry and Sirius after _this_?"

"If they get close enough before Harry tells him it might be enough to keep them together…" Remus suggested hopefully. He knew it was far from a promising idea but it was the only thing they had.

"They seem close enough to me," Mad Eye scoffed and Remus briefly wondered just how much it would make Harry squirm to know that Mad Eye and Minerva were contemplating his relationship with his godfather.

"So what do we do with Tonks…?" Severus asked, returning them to the present subject who had just started a shouting match with Bill on the landing. "We can't just let her walk around messing everything up! I'm not pretending to be married to her for nothing!"

"We'll have to remove her," Mad Eye said with a glint in his eye that made Remus feel quite uneasy.

"You do know that murder is illegal, right?" Remus asked, sounding about half as worried as he felt. It was still enough to make Mad Eye smile in return.

"Fully aware of it," Mad Eye growled, "but there are some things which are worse than death and Miss Tonks is about to find out just what happens when you mess with Alastor Moody."

"As intimidating as you can be, I don't put all my faith in the ever so slightly insane schemes of one eccentric ex-Auror," Severus said coldly. "Any plan of yours is most likely to be even more elaborate and ridiculous than this current plight. I refuse to pretend to be married to anyone else."

"Because you're just that happy with your current wife?" Remus suggested mildly.

"Are you aware that you have pumpkin juice in your hair, Lupin?"

"Are you aware that you have enough grease in your hair to fill a small bathtub?" Remus asked and disappeared before Snape could retort.

Remus spent the rest of his afternoon locked in his room, making alternate plots to remove Tonks from their presence for the rest of the week. He knew that Mad Eye would never be able to make anything which was sane or legal. Briefly, he wondered whether Snape would be doing the same, or at least plotting against himself but his mind was distracted by tapping at his window. He had no idea how Tonks had got hold of Harry's Firebolt but he wasn't going to be pleased to hear that she had crashed it trying to view him, Remus, through his bedroom window.

Snape curled up in the safety of his chambers at Hogwarts, safe in the knowledge that no one would possibly find him there as his mind ran over many ways in which he could suitably humiliate Lupin in front of the entire house. It would have to be new, original and preferably something which would have the residents of Grimmauld Place talking for a long time. A crash from a distant room alerted him that Hermione had probably just broken something valuable, that or Tonks had come to visit her. He added extra wards to his rooms – the ones that would electrocute anyone who tried to enter – and vowed not to leave his sanctuary for the rest of the day.

"What happened, Tonks?" Hermione asked as she cleaned up the potion which had been spilt. She had been told on her first day working for Snape that the fire was never to be used for Potions because it was connected to the Floo network. That had been three days ago now and no one had used it. Snape didn't get many visitors.

"Well I crashed Harry's Firebolt and…" Tonks began but trailed off suddenly. "What are you doing here?"

Hermione blushed slightly. "I couldn't resist the opportunity to get more Potions learnt," she said. Tonks raised an eyebrow as she surveyed Hermione. Clumsy? Yes. Thoughtless? Yes. Oblivious? No.

"And it just so happens that you come to Snape's personal quarters for all this improvement?" Tonks asked lightly.

"It's easier to work here so close to his personal storerooms," Hermione lied.

"Odd that, I mean I was always under the impression that there was a really well-stocked Potions cupboard for students," Tonks said and then grinned at her. "Snape! I can't believe it…"

She began to laugh hysterically as Hermione stared at her with an expression of horror fixed firmly to her face. The more Hermione stared the more convinced that Tonks became until eventually she could take it no more and almost fell over from her laughter.

"Tonks…" Hermione said finally. She was biting her bottom lip and wringing her hands nervously together. If anyone found out that she liked Snape then surely word would get back to the man himself. She would be laughed out of Grimmauld Place…

Tonks stopped laughing when she saw how truly nervous and upset about everything Hermione was. "I won't say anything to anyone," Tonks said to her. "I promise."

"Thank you, that means a lot to me," Hermione smiled a little easier but at the same time some niggling doubt remained. She had known Tonks a long time and whether she meant well or not was irrelevant. Things just went wrong for her.

"No problem," Tonks said and smiled brightly. Hermione pulled her into a hug, pressing the tip of her wand to Tonks's temple. Tonks tried to pull back but Hermione held onto her tightly. "Hermione…?"

"I'm so sorry, but this is for my own safety," Hermione whispered. "_Obliviate_."

A flash of green flames and quite a lot of spinning later, Tonks staggered out of the fireplace of number 12 Grimmauld Place and stared around in utter confusion. She had no idea what just happened, where she had just been or why she had been Flooing at all. She thought it had something to do with Hermione but she was staying with her parents for the duration of the prank so it clearly wasn't that…

She shrugged and wandered off elsewhere, wondering where Harry was and whether or not he would let her borrow his Firebolt to spy on Remus.

* * *

**A/N:** This story won't contain any more Hermione/Snape than that, at least I don't think it will. There'll be the odd reference to it or so as things progress but there won't be anything graphic. If there's an interest then I might write a parallel story – Hermione and Snape getting together whilst Sirius and Harry are in the background. Thanks for reading:o) 


	11. Snape the Snowman

**Disclaimer: **I own a grand total of nothing. Except the plot.

This is **Harry/Sirius slash**. Read on at your own peril!

* * *

Snape the Snowman

Sirius collapsed into bed. His day had been tiring and he still didn't like the fact that he was only learning what was going on. Although part of him wondered whether Minerva being on Ampharelyn was just to wind him up and tease him because he knew very little, he knew a lot would have happened that he wasn't aware of.

Harry curled up to him in sleep and Sirius smiled, wrapping his arms around him. He didn't think he cared that Harry was his lover now, even if they had yet to actually do any _loving_. It was good just being with him. Harry lay next to him, occasionally moving to become more comfortable and it was only when Harry mumbled something about his Firebolt that he turned over suddenly and sprawled himself entirely over Sirius. Their faces were rather close, Sirius realised as Harry moved slightly and finally came to a rest with the slightest of smiles on his lips. His lips that were mere centimetres from Sirius's own.

See, this was just cruel, Sirius thought as he watched Harry's face, so peaceful in sleep. They were already practically dating anyway, and would be in the future… and it wasn't as if they hadn't kissed before, well they had sort of kissed that morning before Tonks barged in on them. Again.

Sirius's lips moved down and brushed over Harry's, eliciting a sleepy sigh when they pressed against his own. Sirius pulled back, letting Harry's head loll back against his shoulder. "_Sirius_," Harry murmured and Sirius froze, feeling the smile break out across his face as Harry settled and returned to the realms of sleep.

Harry waited until Sirius's breathing deepened to open his eyes and stare down at his godfather, who was also his supposed lover. He would get Sirius yet, although, from what he'd heard from the other members of the Order, he didn't have much more to be doing in order to _get_ him. Remus said Sirius had already fallen for him but had he really…? Or was he just going to be one more person Sirius could say he'd been with? Harry couldn't imagine that Sirius would do such a thing with someone he cared about, but at the same time he had never thought of seeing Sirius settle down with anyone, let alone himself!

"Look," Remus said to him the next morning, "you just need him to do something that'll show you how much he cares. Something sweet and probably amusingly romantic that isn't his style at all but that he'll do to please you."

"Such as…?" Harry asked as he leant back against the wall in the hallway. He was beginning to regret coming to Remus as of late; all the man ever seemed to do was to either confuse him or point out blatant truths which he didn't want to know. Such as his own desperate attraction to Sirius.

"Such as what?" Sirius asked when he appeared from behind them and wrapped his arms around Harry's waist.

"Such as mind your own business," Harry muttered as the older man leant down and rested his head on his shoulder. He didn't resist Sirius holding onto him tighter but Harry squirmed when he breathed nonsense words into his ear, making him tingle slightly. He spun round so that he was facing Sirius, his arms still around him but not as tightly.

"Yes, as sweet as you two are, I have other more pressing matters to attend to," Remus said mildly, "like breakfast."

"Sit next to Snape and flick things on his robes for me, would you?" Sirius asked him. "I'd do it myself but he won't let me sit next to him anymore."

"Gee, isn't that surprising," Remus smirked. "No, I'm not going to put anything on Severus's robes. Do it yourself." He turned to Harry. "Keep an eye out for what we were talking about. It'll happen, just watch."

"I don't believe you!" Harry called after him, catching Remus's fleeting smile before he vanished into the kitchen.

"So, are you going to explain what all that was about?" Sirius asked him with a slight crease forming on his forehead.

"Don't frown, Sirius," Harry scolded playfully. "Those lines'll stay there."

"Lines?" Sirius repeated, sounding partly shocked, partly horrified but wholly melodramatic. "I've never had a line in my life! I'm insulted beyond belief! Remus has lines. He's got loads of them but I've got fewer lines than you, m'dear."

"Uh huh," Harry said dubiously. "Anyway, what are you going to do with your day, oh smooth-faced one?"

"Probably watch it snow with my line-free visage," Sirius grinned and Harry's eyes widened slightly.

"Snow?" He pulled himself from Sirius's arms and leapt up onto the windowsill to see the snow falling thick and fast towards the ground, still damp from the rain the previous day. "I love snow!"

"Really…?" Sirius asked nonchalantly as he waved his wand above Harry's head. A rather large amount of the stuff appeared over his head and would fall from a single flick of his wrist. Just then, the kitchen door opened and Remus walked out carrying a slice of toast. With a subtle flick of his own wand, the snow had gone and Sirius was knocked to the floor.

"Try to stay on your feet, Sirius," Remus sighed as he and his toast retired to his room, leaving Sirius gasping for breath on the floor behind him. Harry turned and smiled down at him, partially tempted to give him a quick kiss before going for his own breakfast, but since he was too hungry to bother Sirius went without.

"I can't believe it's snowing!" Harry grinned as he sat down at the table, Sirius seating himself opposite his godson. He watched him talking animatedly throughout breakfast, mostly on the subject of snow and how great it was. Whilst this happened, Severus spent much of his time retelling snow-related stories from their past years, most of which Sirius couldn't remember.

"Yeah, and do you remember when Severus got really drunk and we found him lying out in the snow the next morning?" Remus asked in retaliation to a rather nasty story that the man had made about him.

"Naked, wasn't he?" Fred asked, and many around the table nodded and grinned cruelly.

"Bald too," Remus added.

Harry tuned out of the fictitious conversation around him and nibbled at his toast before looking up. Sirius was watching him and both of them felt warmth rise in their cheeks – Sirius from being caught staring and Harry from being stared at. They both glanced up again and their eyes locked, but this time neither looked away for a moment; Harry smiled and Sirius shakily returned it, wondering what had got into him before the former of the two looked to Remus on the other side.

"So are you going to go out in the snow then?" Remus asked with a slight smile as he watched the snow falling thicker through the window. "You might want to make the most of it because I don't think it'll settle."

"It's supposed to rain tomorrow, isn't it?" Kingsley asked.

Minerva nodded. "It was in the Prophet this morning. They think that it'll rain for the rest of the week after this."

"Their weather forecasting has hardly been reliable though," Kingsley pointed out and cast a worried look at her when Tonks opened her mouth to speak.

"Where is the Prophet?" she asked. "Can I see it?"

"No!" several voices replied at once.

"Why not?" she asked stubbornly.

"Because it says some nasty things about you in it," Harry replied coolly. Tonks quietened then for the rest of the meal and eventually wandered away of her own accord afterwards though no one knew where she went. Remus cast a meaningful glance at Harry and then towards Sirius upon her exit and Harry nodded. Taking Sirius's arm, the two of them left through the front door into the large but deserted street which was quickly filling with snow.

"What the hell are we going to do about her?" Severus muttered and glanced at Mad Eye who looked upwards and around the house with his magical eye.

"She's inside her room, though I don't think she'll stay there for long on her own," Mad Eye said. "We're going to have to get rid of her somehow. We'll tell Sirius that she's gone to stay with Hermione or something like that."

"He won't believe that," Remus said shaking his head. "I don't know whether he buys the whole thing anyway, especially not since the whole Ampharelyn story involving Minerva. We can't just send Tonks away."

"I really don't see why not," Minerva disagreed. "The sooner she's out of the picture then the smoother things will run around here. She's given too many clues on too many occasions. If Sirius was given a strong reason to doubt us then he'd quickly remember everything that she'd said."

"She's coming back," Mad Eye muttered and Severus glanced at him with an alarmed expression on his face.

"That was fast," he frowned. Kingsley got to his feet and walked towards the door, turning back to them before he opened it.

"Decide what to do, and I'll keep her occupied and on the upper levels for a while." With that he was gone, leaving the rest of the Order thinking deeply about their problem which had manifested itself in the form of one careless twenty-odd year old, hell-bent on causing two of their number numerous problems.

Outside, Sirius lay on the snowy ground with one, laughing Harry Potter. Their faces were flushed with the cold and their eyes sparkled in the early sunlight. They were both soaked to the skin, their robes, gloves, and scarves ineffective after such a long time in the icy weather.

"Are you okay?" Sirius asked after a short pause.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "After you knocked me down, you mean? Yeah, couldn't be better."

"Well you certainly made sure that you dragged me down with you, if it's any consolation," Sirius scowled, "and I'm sure it is."

Harry threw a handful of snow at Sirius and it hit him in the face. He leapt to his feet and ran back towards the house, whilst behind him Sirius scrambled back to a standing position and wiped the snow from his face. He pelted after Harry and just managed to slip inside before Harry closed the door on him, and their Snape the Snowman which waved cheerfully at their retreating forms.

"See, that was just cruel," Sirius grinned at Harry who merely smiled innocently.

"What was?"

"You know," Sirius muttered. He moved closer and bent down towards Harry. Suddenly, both of them flew to the side as something went flying into them, taking their legs out from beneath them.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, if you don't leave me alone I'm going to hurt you so badly you'd wish you'd never met me!" Harry cried. Tonks picked herself up from the floor. Naturally Harry would have leapt up after her and gone on to give her a rather severe telling off about interrupting him and Sirius repeatedly but it just wasn't worth it, not when it would involve shoving Sirius's body off his own.

"I reckon that's pretty well decided," Severus muttered from inside the lounge as he watched the scene unfolding through the one-way wall they had created. "She'll be gone by the morning."

"Gone where?" Remus asked in a slightly worried tone but Severus merely smiled wider. "I don't like the sounds of this…"

* * *

"I'm still disappointed that the snow melted," Harry sighed later that evening when he curled up in the lounge, a cup of hot chocolate in his hands. Remus was watching him out of the corner of his eye and wondering where the hell Sirius had managed to get to. It was late, Harry was with him and yet Sirius wasn't there. A slight smile touched his face as an idea appeared in his mind… perhaps he was doing something for Harry? He hoped so. Harry still didn't believe what was happening; he couldn't believe Sirius would ever commit, especially not to him. He would believe it because Sirius would show him just how much he loved him. Either that or he, Remus, would have to make Sirius show him just how much he loved him.

"I know, Har," Remus sighed. "You've been complaining about it since it began melting this afternoon. We're all in mourning for Severus the Snowman, though. Really." He smiled at Harry who gave him a slight smile back.

Harry was worried, there was no denying it. Remus could certainly see it, which was probably for the reason he kept mostly silent, occasionally breaking their quiet with a light remark with the intent of invoking his confidence. Harry wasn't in the mood for talking, nor for sharing his current insecurities. Not that night anyway, not after such a close day between Sirius and he.

The knowledge that he would have to tell Sirius in only a few days that he'd been lying was beginning to eat him from the inside out. Well, it wasn't so much the actual telling that was getting to him, it was really the strongly negative reaction he was certain to get from Sirius which was the most daunting. Remus had assured Harry that, whatever happened, he and Sirius wouldn't and couldn't stop loving each other. Harry privately wondered whether that was really the case the closer the time of truth came.

He glanced at Remus who tried to hide his smile this time. He failed, as he always did and Harry raised a questioning eyebrow.

"What?" Harry asked resignedly, aware that Remus had probably planned on him initiating conversation between them.

"Just you." Remus turned back to the book in his lap and re-opened it at the previous page, his eyes wandering over the words but no longer taking them in.

"What about me?" Harry asked impatiently. He was not in the best of moods and it wasn't helped by Remus laughing at him then not explaining what about him he found so particularly amusing.

"Getting into this idiocy," Remus replied, merely receiving another displeased and questioning look from Harry. "This sort of bizarre scheme is exactly what Sirius would do, although he's never yet tried this and realised part way through that he's falling in love with someone who wrongfully believes themselves to be in a long-term relationship with him."

"All right, you've made your point!" Harry said, smiling in spite of himself. He sighed slightly, his mood deflating and then added, "I'll be glad when all this is over, for better or for worse."

Remus smiled and moved to put his arm around Harry. "I know you will, and I hope this ends well for you, Harry. I really do."

Harry left the room shortly after and retired to his room. It had been a tiresome day and Tonks had become more annoying as time progressed. He just wanted to curl up in bed with Sirius and forget everything that had happened… well except the parts which involved Sirius, snow and himself.

He pushed open the door and stepped inside, pausing when his feet crunched on the floor. Harry's mouth fell open when he saw the entire room except for the bed was covered with a thin blanket of snow. He bit his lip as a smile formed on his face and he caught sight of Sirius standing next to the open balcony doors, he turned when he saw Harry enter and smiled tentatively.

"I know how much you wanted the snow to stay," Sirius said with a twinkle in his eye whilst he moved towards Harry, who could only grin and gape at the snow still falling around them.

"Sirius... this is incredible," Harry breathed as he turned around to look at the rest of the room. When he turned back Sirius had wrapped his arms around his middle, and Harry slipped his arms around Sirius's neck. "Thank you."

Sirius watched Harry intently. "As long as you're happy."

"I really am." Harry smiled and tilted his head up to Sirius, brushing their lips together for a moment before they pressed deeper and more intimately together. Both of them were partially waiting for Tonks to come barging in on them or to fall out of some hiding place within their room but she never did. Sirius moved his hands up Harry's sides and then between them, unbuttoning his shirt as Harry steered him backwards onto the bed.

"Your shirt ought to be fastened with Velcro," Sirius muttered darkly. He gave in and vanished Harry's shirt from his chest, exposing his torso underneath. He quickly rolled over, holding Harry to him so he ended up on top of the youth, running his lips over every inch of skin he could get. His hands moved lower and lower whilst Harry's nimble fingers made light work of Sirius's own shirt before threading into his long hair.

Harry's eyes fluttered open as Sirius sucked gently on his neck the way he had previously whilst he pulled off Harry's trousers.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, _Evanesco!_" Sirius just had time to mutter over both their trousers before Harry was against him again, his tongue duelling furiously with his own. Sirius moaned and allowed himself to be pressed back into the bed, his body delighting in the skin to skin contact he had with Harry.

Harry pulled his mouth away from Sirius's and slowly worked his tongue down his body whilst his fingers moved quicker and found the waistline of Sirius's boxer shorts. "Oh god…" Sirius muttered and bit his lip. He resisted the urge to look down at Harry and watch him and that goddamned evil tongue of his. Instead he focused his gaze on the canopy of their bed which was dipping dangerously low.

He had not charmed the bed to stay free of snow, but he had been thankful when it did and hadn't asked questions. Now he was beginning to regret that but the thought was wiped from his mind along with everything else when he gasped and arched into Harry's touch. That was clearly all that the bed could take. Harry yelped and leapt off the bed as snow covered him entirely. Sirius gasped, spluttered and then laughed when his mouth was filled with snow.

"I wondered what was keeping the bed dry!" Harry laughed. His teeth began to chatter and he conjured some warm, dry robes back onto him. "Right, you can clear up this mess, and I'm going to get a hot bath."

"Can't I come with you?" Sirius pouted and Harry flashed him a smile.

"Once our bed's warm and dry again then I suppose you can join me," Harry grinned. A wave of Sirius's wand later, both men disappeared into their bathroom laughing and shedding their newly acquired robes.


	12. Hiding Within The Home

**Disclaimer:** If you recognise it then I don't own it. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

This is **Sirius/Harry slash**. Don't like? Don't read.

**A/N:** Okay, so I've not updated in a while. This is basically because I've been drowning beneath schoolwork, and actual work, and whatnot, so I've not written much. I'll write more from now on, really! New chapter hopefully up by the end of the month. :o)

* * *

Hiding Within The Home

It was only when the water had almost cooled that Harry and Sirius got out of the bath. All in all, Harry was quite glad that he'd asked for a larger bath when the rooms had been transfigured earlier on that week; it would have been a bit of a squeeze with he and Sirius in there otherwise. Harry pressed his lips gently to Sirius's for a fleeting moment before they both got into bed. Harry suddenly realised that, what with the fact that Sirius thought they were lovers and that they'd been fooling about in the bath for a good couple of hours, Sirius was likely to want more from him. Though he'd been leading him on mercilessly for the best part of a week, Harry wasn't sure that he was ready to go that far with Sirius yet, or whether it was fair on Sirius for them to do so; Sirius didn't even know the year, let alone that they weren't really dating.

Sirius watched Harry for a moment as he slipped into bed, noticing that Harry was wearing the bottom half of a pair of pyjamas. Perhaps Harry wasn't all that keen on pushing their boundaries that bit further that night. Sirius leant over and kissed him goodnight before turning out the light, and slipping into a comfortable sleep.

He was getting used to sleeping with his arms wrapped around Harry, which he decided was a good thing, when he awoke the next morning. The house was strangely silent and for a moment he wondered what time it was; normally there would be the sounds of the household creating a din, yet this morning there was nothing. The hush that had decended upon the house was eerie, and it made Sirius feel more than slightly uncomfortable. He slipped his arms from around Harry, who mumbled and tried to move closer, and wearily got out of bed. The cold air was not pleasant and he instantly charmed robes onto his body, just before leaving the room for the kitchen.

"So I told her that if she decided to behave then--" Kingsley broke off as Sirius entered the kitchen. The expression on his face could only have been described as 'suspicious'. The house was far too quiet, and even the twins at the other side of the table were making less noise than normal. Not no noise at all, for then Sirius would have been alarmed indeed, but certainly less than was normally expected from them.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked as he sat down towards the end of the table, nearest the fireplace, and helped himself to some toast. Molly felt a small victory in that she no longer had to force-feed Sirius. That just left Remus and Harry whose eating habits she needed to work on.

"What do you mean, 'what's going on?'" Remus asked. Sirius stared at him for a long moment, trying to discern whether or not his old friend was telling him the truth. He glanced down at his breakfast when he realised that there was no way he was ever knowing what went on inside Remus's head.

"I mean it's so quiet," Sirius said and glanced around at them, "and where's Tonks?" He had suddenly realised just who it was who normally sat next to him at the table, and Tonks was nowhere to be seen. He hadn't heard her all morning, and it was unlikely that her unexplained absence and the quiet that surrounded the house weren't interlinked.

"She's had a row with Severus," Minerva explained, and she stared him straight in the eye whilst lying. This was rather disconcerting to the members of the Order who spotted this, and most of them began to wonder just how much of the truth they ever heard from Minerva, "so she's gone to stay with Hermione for a while."

"Okay," Sirius said slowly, "so why are we all down here, being very quiet at such an offensive time of the morning?"

"We're all down here at eight because Tonks has just left and we wanted to see her before she went," Kingsley said, rolling his eyes, whilst conversation began at the other end of the table. "And we're being so 'very quiet' because it's so early, and we didn't want to wake anyone else who might still be sleeping in the house."

"Though, if you'd prefer, we were plotting some unseemly schemes against Harry," George supplied helpfully.

Sirius gasped in mock horror. "Scheming against Harry without me is even worse than other suspicious doings that may or may not be occuring right now, under this very roof," Sirius told him emphatically.

The rest of breakfast passed quickly, with very little to mention except that Tonks's absence seemed to make the whole house a little quieter. Sirius couldn't put his finger on it, but it seemed to him that there was something odd about the entire affair which made him wonder where Tonks really had gone. He had half a mind to get the slowest owl that he could find and send it to her with a letter; at least then he would be able to pursue it and discover where Tonks _really_ was. Not that he'd ever tell Minerva that he didn't believe the tale that they had spun. In fact, the more and more he thought about it, the more he decided that he didn't believe a word they'd said on the matter.

When Harry eventually made his appearance in the kitchen around an hour later, he was instantly filled in on the story yet, unlike Sirius had predicted, the usually suspicious youth didn't show any signs of doubt as to their story, and merely stated that he wished he could have been present for her departure.

'_Something is going on here, I'm certain of it,_' Sirius thought as he watched the small group who had not yet disbanded from the table, and sat waiting for Harry to finish his small meal, though the way that Molly continually piled more food onto his plate, they could be waiting a very long time.

Sirius eventually retired to the lounge to think but he was almost instantly followed by Remus. Despite the fact that Remus could be very quiet and introspective at times, this didn't appear to be one of them and the game of chess that he got roped into didn't give him much time for reflection on the odd events of the day, which, though Sirius wasn't aware of it, was exactly what Remus had planned.

Outside the room, Harry stared alternately at Minerva and Severus in disbelief. They had trapped Tonks inside one of the rooms upstairs and put repelling charms on her! Were they well and truly insane? He had always thought so but perhaps this was the final proof that he needed to have them committed to some kind of magical mental institution... Of course, he had known that she needed to be kept away from them, at least for a while, because they were so constantly in danger of being discovered by Sirius for what was really going on around him, and it was almost always Tonks's fault when such a discovery was almost made.

"You're insane," Harry stated bluntly, "but brilliant," he added before walking into the lounge. His sketchpad that he had been working in previously was held loosely in one arm, and it was only when he came face to face with the large bookcase that covered one wall, that he took it out and flicked through the pages. He cast a quick levitation charm over himself and hovered just high enough so that he could reach the books on the top shelf.

"You know, Har, if you weren't so short you might be able to reach that without magical aid," Sirius said mildly before having his one remaining knight slaughtered by one of Remus's cunning pawns.

"You know, Siri, if you weren't so thick you'd know what I was trying to do and would have explored your own house years ago," Harry retaliated as he tugged out a book on the top shelf, though he looked slightly disappointed when he saw it was merely a book and placed it back on the shelf. He lowered himself to the ground and looked critically at the books, while Sirius and Remus watched Harry in much the same manner from behind him.

"You are aware that we're not in Hogwarts, right?" Remus asked lightly as he made a sweeping move with one of his rooks across the chessboard and took a bishop. "Therefore, you are highly unlikely to discover any hidden passageways behind the bookcases."

"Are you so certain of that?" Harry asked as he ran a finger down the spine of a book entitled, '_Hiding Within The Home'_ and the bookcase moved to the side. Sirius's jaw dropped, and Remus was slightly amused and curious by Harry's find. Harry took a step forwards towards the new opening that he had found, and cast a charm for light within. The moment he did it, Sirius realised his mistake in letting Harry so much as remain in the room after he'd opened the passageway. A burst of energy lashed out at Harry and hurled him backwards across the room. He slammed into the door, surprise evident on his face, and he sank down to the floor.

Remus leapt off his chair and ran to Harry, and Sirius moved to shut the passageway that Harry had just opened before dropping down to Harry's side.

"God, I should have seen that coming," Sirius reprimanded himself as he bit his lip with worry. "This house would have been covered in protective charms, and since you're only half-blooded, then it wouldn't even have considered letting you into the passageway." He ran his fingers through Harry's hair, even as the younger man's eyes fluttered shut.

"Forget it, Sirius," Harry murmured as he fell unconscious. Sirius looked to Remus with anxiety etched into his features, and Remus looked down at Harry feeling much the way that Sirius looked.

"That energy did something to him, though I can't tell what," Remus said quietly as he examined Harry quickly, however his eye was not as good as a Healer's to know the damage the combined spells had wrought on him. "Levitate him upstairs and put him to bed. I'll go give Poppy a shout."

Remus got to his feet even as he was still speaking, and left through the fireplace for Hogwarts. He tried desperately not to think of whatever dark magic the Blacks had decided to put into their house for one particular boy, adept at finding trouble, to unleash possibly centuries later; the more he thought about it, the more he wondered what it had done to Harry and whether he would ever recover from it. The Blacks had not been known for their mercy, or their love of anything other than Pure. They could easily have lain such a trap so that someone of unpure heritage would be killed, or tortured to death, or... Remus didn't want to think about that any longer, and thankfully he had reached the Hospital Wing.

"Madam Pomfrey!" he called as he entered and wasn't surprised when the matron appeared, even though the school holidays would still be in session, and few had stayed over Christmas. She opened her mouth to ask just what he meant by such an intrusion during such unseasonable hours but Remus was faster. "It's Harry," he replied to the unspoken question.

Moments later, after a very brief explanation of what had transpired back at Grimmauld Place, Remus and Poppy left with arms laden with her travelling medical supplies and minds full of worry. The scene they met when they returned was not a desirable one. Sirius paced endlessly at the end of their bed, while Minerva watched over Harry and tried to discover just what it was that ailed him. Severus took a back seat and made his own judgements based on what he'd heard, and what had been inferred, though he didn't make a sound. The rest of the house had been forced out of the room and waited with baited breath outside. The arrival of Madam Pomfrey with Remus was a welcome one, and they easily passed through the small crowd.

"Let me get this straight," Poppy said impatiently as she cast numerous charms over Harry which would hopefully tell her just what had happened to him, "you just let him enter a passageway that no one had used in years and were surprised when the house defended itself?"

"We didn't know what he was doing," Remus said defensively, though he watched as a haze over Harry's head turned red, and then changed to purple.

"I didn't know there were any passageways in the house, though I'm sure I'd have been told about them if the family knew of them," Sirius said pensively as he watched over Harry.

"Perhaps they did tell you about them," Minerva mused, "and when you made your true loyalties clear they obliviated the memory."

Sirius opened his mouth to make a bitter retort but Poppy cut across him. "The hexes that were encased in the passageway have become distorted and, as such, have had a far more negative effect than was ever intended. You're going to have to cast these charms on him over the next hour," she said and handed a small list of charms to Minerva, "and then there are three potions that he'll need to take, to ensure that he doesn't relapse, or have any similar episodes in which he blacks out for no apparent reason," she handed the potions information to Severus who sneered.

"Don't you think that I know perfectly well how to brew these potions myself?" he demanded and she merely cast him a flickering smile, though she didn't answer. The damage to his pride had been done.

"Finally, attempt to stay calm in his presence, Mr Black," she said to the man who still paced about the room. "Seeing you so agitated will not have a positive influence on his recovery, which ought to be more or less complete before tomorrow dinnertime, though some dizziness and weakness is to be expected."

With that short speech, and her instructions given, Poppy had left the room and returned to what would hopefully be her quiet Christmas in the castle with the House-Elves. It was a long two hours that followed for the house, as the spells Minerva cast slowly took effect and Severus managed to pour his three potions down Harry's throat. Throughout it all, Sirius remained pacing about the room, whilst Remus made one attempt after another to calm him somewhat. It was of little consequence, and even when Minerva announced that Harry was stable and beginning to recover, he still felt little happiness from it.

"Sirius, stop worrying," Remus sighed for what felt like the twentieth time in the space of half the minutes. "He is going to be fine, both Minerva and Severus have said so. Poppy wouldn't have left him if she didn't think that he'd be fine without her care."

Sirius collapsed into a chair by Harry's bedside and watched him sleeping. "I should have known that the house would do that," Sirius admitted and Remus shook his head. He refused to tell Sirius that he shouldn't have, if only because Sirius already knew it himself.

"You know perfectly well what you should and shouldn't have known," Remus said when Sirius waited for an answer. The latter of the two smiled slightly and picked up the sketchbook that had eluded him so skillfully over the last few days. His eyes wandered over the plans of the house that had been so carefully drawn out, and then they drifted to the doodles that surrounded them. They had been drawn with as much skill, though without the effort and precision of the main drawings. Pictures of Tonks dancing with Kingsley, sketched underneath the first floor, Remus looking exasperated as he avoided a magically enhanced doodle of Tonks who chased him through the pages of the book. An eye, that reminded him of someone he knew, though he couldn't quite place it, and never would realise that it was his own; and then he happened upon the picture of Padfoot. This doodle didn't move, but it was evident that Harry had spent the most time carefully drawing out this one. It appeared to have been the one that Harry had gone back to complete time and time again between the actual sketches he had travelled the house to take.

Remus watched as Sirius examined the pages, knowing already what he would find, and what his friend's eyes lingered on the longest. If that didn't show Sirius how much he was on Harry's mind, it certainly showed Remus how much Harry was in Sirius's from the staring and examining that continued for a good five minutes. When Sirius looked up again, he found that he was alone with Harry in the room. As Harry slept on, Sirius remained by his bed and occasionally glanced through the book, adding his own doodles when the urge took him. It was only when the downstairs clock chimed eleven, and then sun had long since disappeared beneath the horizon, that Sirius climbed into bed with Harry and curled up beside him. He would be okay, Sirius knew, because he was Harry. Harry was always okay, despite all that life had thrown at him, and Sirius felt a flicker of a smile when Harry turned in his deep sleep and wrapped his arms around him.

"Night, Har," he murmured and blew out the candle next to him.


	13. A Question Of Age

**Disclaimer:** If you recognise it then I don't own it. All characters belong to JK Rowling.

This is **Sirius/Harry slash**. Don't like? Don't read.

Anyway, I am very, very sorry for the delay in chapters with this story. The time to write has not presented itself in a long time now, but here's the new chapter. It's quite long, as an apology, and I know you'll enjoy it. Let me put it this way – think **Sirius** and **major discovery**:o)

* * *

A Question Of Age

"What the hell are we going to do?" Remus hissed at Severus in the hallway just outside Sirius's and Harry's room. "We have to get in there and give Harry his potion otherwise Sirius is going to wake up with an eighteen year old in his arms."

Severus smirked at the idea and glanced at Minerva to see her reaction. Disappointingly for him, she appeared to be taking on Remus's idea of utmost horror. He sighed and asked, "What do you want me to do about it then?"

"Well you should have given him the potion whilst you were in there! You could have done it right in front of Sirius's nose and he wouldn't have suspected a thing!" Remus cried in exasperation at the obvious. "Now there's no way we can get in; Sirius is still such a light sleeper from the war that we wouldn't stand a chance."

"Lupin, stop getting in such a strop and shut up," Severus said calmly and Remus narrowed his eyes dangerously.

Remus opened his mouth to retort but Minerva leapt in. "Would both of you be quiet? If I recall correctly, we are right outside the room of the very person who we are trying to fool. Shouting about our plans is not the wisest course of action. Just go in, Severus, and tell him – if he wakes – that there is one more potion that you have to administer."

"He'll never go for that, he's suspicious enough as it is anymore. Didn't you see him this morning?" Remus said. "If we knew when he would wake up then we could just administer him some tea and be done with it. As it is, we can't exactly try to look nonchalant as we pour tea down the throat of an unconscious."

"That's what we can do," Severus said in a moment of what he considered pure brilliance. "We'll just knock out Black."

"Knock out a man who's already asleep?" Minerva asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's exactly right," Severus said smugly. Remus hid a smile and nodded thoughtfully.

"You can be the one to carry out your plan then, since you were the one who created it," Remus said and turned away from him. Severus scowled slightly but did not argue. Minerva rolled her eyes, but did not prevent Severus from entering the room.

"_Stupef--_" There was a flash of red light and a thud. Remus grinned as he turned the corner and found Severus unconscious on the floor; Sirius was lying in bed, dozing still, and his limp arm was outstretched, holding onto a wand.

"I'll never learn how he manages to do that in his sleep," Remus smiled and walked across the room. Carefully, he tried to take the wand from Sirius's hand but he grasped it tightly and Remus struggled to remove it. Sirius stirred and Minerva looked to Remus cautiously. Sirius was most certainly waking up and Snape was knocked out on his floor.

"We'll have to do this later," Minerva mouthed to Remus who shook his head. He had little chance to object further however as Minerva levitated Snape and himself out of the room behind her.

"We have to do it now – the potion will be wearing off within the next two hours and Sirius is not only waking but still in possession of a wand!" Remus said desperately.

"I know, Remus. We'll manage, don't worry about that." With that Minerva was walking away with Severus still floating along behind her. She glanced momentarily at the room which housed Tonks before walking downstairs, leaving Remus alone on the first floor landing. Inside the room next to which he stood, the sound of sleepy murmuring could be heard. Remus didn't entertain for a moment that Harry was already waking up and, not wanting to be found eavesdropping outside their room, he left for the company of others.

The door opened behind him as he left and Sirius watched his retreating back critically. His breathing was heavy and his eyes were narrowed; Sirius Black was not happy. So there was a potion on Harry, was there? He paced the room, his fists clenching into balls. Evidently there was much he had missed during his brief sleep and it was only the intrusion of someone into his room that had woken him, at least enough to stun them whilst half asleep. Though he had not been able to see who the trespasser was, he would have put money on it being Snape.

He glanced down at Harry who slept on soundly through his pacing. He seemed so convinced that Snape was a good person now and he wondered for a moment whether this was because of the potion he was meant to be taking with out his, Sirius's, knowledge. Did Harry know that he was taking a potion in his sleep? He wasn't sure about that.

"_Accio_," he muttered, fixing the particular book he desired in his mind. '_Moste Potente Potions_' fell into his arms shortly after and he flicked to the section entitled '_Detecting Potions_'. Having no idea just what it was that Harry was taking, it might require more extreme attempts at discovery. Sirius realised that he could easily wait for Harry to wake up and ask him if he was under the influence of any magical substances, but what if Harry didn't know about it? What if it was something malicious? Sirius couldn't wait. Sirius also wasn't thinking particularly clearly in his state of shock. Were he thinking calmly he would have remembered that the voices he heard outside had been those of Minerva and Remus, neither of whom would ever put Harry in any kind of danger.

The most commonly used potions were ones that changed the appearance of the individual, Sirius knew. Perhaps Harry had grown ugly over the years and was trying to hide it ... or perhaps Harry wasn't Harry at all. Maybe he was an impostor! Sirius shook his head: physically trying to rid himself of the ideas that were making a good attempt at pulling him into a state of panic.

He waved his wand over Harry, muttering a few words under his breath as he did so. A white fog covered his patient; it went pink for a moment before turning back to white. Sirius frowned; the haze would go red if Harry was under a potion that would change his appearance, but it had turned only halfway before changing its mind. Magic rarely changed its mind on a matter, owing to the fact that it didn't have one, but the spell was clearly in some state of confusion. So the potion altered his appearance, but that was not its primary function, Sirius reasoned as he watched Harry.

Inside the book, some of the pictures were beginning to understand Sirius's situation and a particularly bright picture began to shout him. Sirius glanced down at the small man with a dubious expression.

"Look at that one!" the small man shouted, pointing madly towards age altering potions. Sirius glanced at it momentarily but, deciding that he didn't look too old, dismissed it and turned back to Harry. "Hey! Don't ignore me!"

"I'm not ignoring you, but I don't think I look so bad that I need potions for my age, yet," Sirius sighed as he looked down at Harry. If the potion that he was under was only altering his appearance but not as its main function then that left a great many things that were happening to him. Sirius hardly knew where to begin.

"I'm not talking about the potion for you, though why you'd want to look older I can't imagine!" the man shouted up at Sirius who slammed the book shut to the sound of muffled yells from within. He began to pace again as he tried to think just what was wrong with Harry that he would take potions for it, and that other members of the house would be so desperate for him to take without his own knowledge. _Wait a minute... older?_

Sirius grabbed the book from where he'd thrown it across the room and raced through the pages to where he had been before. He ignored the sarcastic, smug voice of the picture as he read over aging potions. He knew as well as anyone did that anti-aging potions had only been invented thirty years ago, and the book in his hands was well over three hundred. He reached the bottom of the page and turned over, but the next page began to talk about potions for the elderly.

"There's no test," Sirius said quietly. "I can't find out whether or not his age has been changed..."

"Of course not, and you can't find out whether someone's under the Polyjuice either, so what do you do then?" a voice demanded from the wall. Sirius turned sharply to see Phineas regarding him with some disdain.

"They said you'd gone and that your portrait had been destroyed," Sirius said uncertainly.

"Of course they said that, they would have done, though I thought all this madness would have been over and done with by now," Phineas said disapprovingly. He did not like being thrown out of his own home for a week, and liked the temporary picture he had been left in even less.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius demanded as he turned to fully face his ancestor. "What is going on here?"

"Just use your head," Phineas told him as he walked out of the frame, "for a change."

Sirius stared at the frame on the wall which had returned to the photo of Hogwarts that it had been before. Madness, mention of Polyjuice, the potion that changed appearance inadvertently... Sirius had no idea what was going on any longer. Outside his room, voices could be heard. Sirius leapt back into bed next to Harry and wrapped his arms around him in much the same way he had been before.

_You can't find out whether someone's under the Polyjuice either, so what do you do then?_ Sirius's mind asked him.

_You wait..._ Sirius thought in response and looked at Harry. He was peaceful in sleep, but if he was under the influence of an aging potion then he would soon be waking as his body changed back to whatever age he had previously been.

The door opened and a rather irate Severus barged into the room. Sirius shifted slightly in his 'sleep' and Severus scoured the room with his eyes.

"Severus, there is no one here, you're finally losing it," Minerva sighed.

He turned round in the room, examining his surroundings for any sign of change. His normally diligent gaze missed the Potions book on the bedside table as Minerva spoke.

"I heard people talking, I'm sure of it," he growled and behind him Remus smirked. "Find something funny, do you?"

"You don't think that I might have heard any conversation taking place in here?" Remus asked calmly with a raised eyebrow. "As excellent as I'm sure your senses are, mine are far superior."

"Yes, but I was passing the room, and you were a floor up. Who is more likely to have the superior hearing for this particular room then, Lupin?" Severus snapped at him.

"Would you both shut up!" Minerva hissed at them and glared past them towards Sirius.

"If he was going to wake up then he already would have done," Severus said, breaking off as he realised Sirius wouldn't wake. From his pocket he pulled out his own small vial of potion and walked confidently over to Sirius, leaning over him towards Harry.

"_Stupefy,_" Sirius murmured and Severus slumped across him. The potion was spilled across the bed and Sirius's eyes opened. He stared around him in confusion for a few moments for effect; no one who woke up due to Severus Snape landing on them could do any less and be believed. He turned to Remus and Minerva who stood in the doorway.

"Severus had one more potion to administer to Harry to aid his recovery, though he did not quite count on your unique defence mechanisms," Minerva explained as she travelled the room to them. She glanced over them to Harry, who slept soundly despite the addition of Severus to his bedding.

"It appears all to have been spilt," Sirius noted with a sense of slight satisfaction as he glanced back up to Minerva.

"Not to worry, I have a little more," Minerva said and pulled out her own vial from within her robes. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you have more potion?" Sirius asked her interestedly. His eyes narrowed with suspicion. "I saw you drinking that yesterday and when I asked why you said it was simply a stimulant to help you stay awake marking papers. Somehow I don't think Harry needs help staying awake whilst he's asleep, do you?"

"Oh no... Of course not," Minerva replied. "I thought it was the same since it's in the same bottle," she stammered.

Sirius nodded understandingly and then smiled. "I wish I'd known earlier how easy it would be to make you drink just about anything. I could have had some fun with that knowledge."

"Rest assured, Sirius, I will be far more diligent of anything placed under my nose by yourself," Minerva said by way of a farewell and she left the room, hovering Severus behind her. Remus sent him the slightest of smiles as he left, thought worrying at him as the conundrum of just what to do about getting the potion into Harry became more urgent.

Back inside the room, Sirius stared after them in disbelief. They had left the potion drying across their bedding and on the floor, the potion bottle lay still. The fact that three of them would be trying to get the potion into Harry, and that Minerva had an extra supply of her own if Severus's failed was more suspicious than he had previously thought. A thought struck Sirius and he leapt out of the bed, not caring for gentleness; Harry would not wake. Harry's robes were laid across the chest at the end of the bed. He felt through the pockets, finding nothing but pieces of parchment and a few Muggle bits and pieces that he did not know the use for. He felt disappointment close in until his fingertips brushed over the small, familiar bottle; it was the same as the one that lay on the floor and that Minerva had inside her robes. That Harry had some of his own spoke volumes to Sirius:

It meant that Harry was taking the potion intentionally.

A moan of pain met Sirius's ears and he glanced up, his heart rate quickening at fear of being discovered looking through Harry's things. Harry was not awake yet, though the potion he had been under was clearly wearing off. Sirius was back in the bed in a moment, watching as Harry changed, slowly at first, and growing younger and younger. One thing was certain: Harry was definitely not in his early twenties, as he had said he was. He looked to be around eighteen... Sirius's eyes widened and he felt a strange fluttering within his stomach. Just what exactly had happened here?

* * *

"Christ almighty!" Remus cried in the kitchen, hushed instantly by Minerva and Severus. "What the hell are we going to do? Harry will be changing back any time now and Sirius is going to be there in the room with him when he changes. Sirius will kill him!"

"No he won't," Minerva told him calmly. "Even if he does witness Harry's changing back then we can just tell him it's a side effect from one of the potions that he took, and if we don't give him another potion quickly then he'll carry on getting younger and younger."

"He won't go for that," Remus said, shaking his head. "He's very suspicious at the moment, and seeing Harry growing younger isn't going to do wonders for that, is it?"

"The most believable lies are the biggest ones. He won't think that we'd be mad enough to make up such a lie, so he'll probably believe us," Severus said as he glanced out of the window and watched as an owl flew straight into it with some amusement. "The only problem is that we need to be there at the exact moment that Potter begins to change back with the potion."

The owl, which Severus saw was carrying a newspaper, began pecking relentlessly at the window for entry. "I thought you'd got rid of your subscription to the Prophet, Minerva," Remus said.

"I did, but I wasn't the only one in the house with one, was I?" she asked as it flew away, having hopefully got the message that the paper wasn't wanted. "So are we actually going to go through with this then?"

Both Severus and Remus nodded. "We'll need some more potion though, now that mine's soaking into their bed upstairs."

"I'll get started brewing that now, by my calculations, he shouldn't be waking up for another half an hour at least. Lupin, after the next twenty minutes you can go listen outside their door for any screeches of agony. I'm sure you'll be able to hear them when Potter starts to change back."

* * *

The owl flew smack into the window, the fourth transparent barrier that it had met that day. Sirius turned sharply to see the small owl tapping incessantly at the glass and waved his want, letting him in. The paper was dropped into his arms unceremoniously, and Sirius tossed the three Knuts into its pouch before it flew off. He unrolled the paper to see the Minister looking particularly menacing on the front cover, shaking his fist and looking ready to fight the next reporter he saw. Sirius didn't pay any attention to the main story, though his eyes flickered up to the date for a brief moment.

_Friday 23rd December 1998_

Sirius smiled, it would be Christmas in a few days' time; that always cheered him up. He moved to throw the paper away from him and onto the windowsill when he caught himself and stared back at the paper, his eyes fixed on the date. _1998..._ The paper fell to the floor, Sirius turned to stare at his young Harry in disbelief and then at himself in the mirror. Pain rippled through his body suddenly, and Sirius fell to the floor with a stifled cry. It subsided to a prickling everywhere, from his fingers to his toes and he tried not to yelp as it became stronger and faded out entirely.

He didn't know how long the strange pain had held him, but he found himself lying on the floor with a light sweat on his forehead. He sat up shakily and Sirius's draw dropped as he stared into the mirror. It wasn't only Harry who the potion had been affecting.

Trembling fingers reached out to the image in the mirror that he had thought lost in time, then he ran his fingers over his stubble. The grey that had taunted him in his reflection was gone, and with it any illusion that he had his memory wiped. He didn't know what this was, but it sure as hell wasn't funny. He remembered, back at the beginning of the week when he had wondered whether it had all been some kind of elaborate joke. The possibility presented itself again, and this time Sirius didn't dismiss it. Outside, muffled laughter could be heard and footsteps echoed along the landing. Sirius didn't have much time left to him and it was now up to him to decide what was happening. Did he go along with the joke, if that was what it was, or did he stand in the doorway looking outraged?

He made his decision in an instant and leapt into bed. "_Accio potion_," he muttered and it fell into his hand. Four drops was all it took to restore he and Harry to their former guises, and he finished a quick overview of the room, ensuring that nothing was out of place just as the door handle turned. Sirius dropped his head onto the pillow, feeling Harry's light breathing against his neck as he curled up to him automatically.

"Nothing at all, Lupin, perhaps it is _your_ overactive hearing that's not quite together," Severus sneered as they entered.

Remus shook his head. "I heard something, I'm sure I did!"

"They don't look to be changing back to me," Minerva observed. "Perhaps they have a little longer yet."

"Well just give them the potion now and I'm sure it will be fine," Remus said, moving towards them.

Sirius tensed slightly as he felt the potion drip into his mouth, then Remus leant over him to Harry and did the same. There was muttering from behind him and a slight gasp.

"Oh yes, they look fine to me," Severus sneered.

"You could have told me that would happen if I gave them the potion now," Remus snapped, spinning round to face him.

"It won't matter. It's the middle of the night, in case you've forgotten, and they won't wake until tomorrow. By the time they wake, the other potion will have worn off and they'll look exactly the same," Minerva told them both, ushering them out of the room as she did so.

Sirius breathed again as the door shut behind them and glanced into the mirror. He was older still, and Harry was too. He looked good for his age, Sirius supposed, and Harry looked more gorgeous than ever. He smiled as he watched Harry sleeping and brushed his hair from his eyes. His fingers froze on Harry's temple as he realised what he was doing; this was Harry, his godson. The year was 1998, no time had passed, and they most certainly were not in a long and meaningful relationship. He swallowed, realising just how awful his situation was: he had Merlin only knew how long to pretend he was in love with Harry until he decided that enough was enough and he, Sirius, was informed of the truth. He was entirely in control of the situation; if he decided, at any point, to reveal his knowledge then he could do so and everything would be over: he and Harry would be over...

He got out of bed and began pacing again. His breathing was getting heavier the longer he thought, and he turned to the large doors behind him that lead out onto a small balcony. The fresh air was a relief to him as he stepped outside and stared down into the garden. Someone was moving down there, and he watched carefully until he realised that Hagrid was walking amongst the large weeds that were taking over the garden. He didn't know what it was that he sprinkled over them but they grew dramatically. It occurred to Sirius how much effort they had put into all this, and then just how many people would have been involved. His fists clenched at that thought; so many people were involved, so many people would hear that the great Sirius Black, who had helped defeat Voldemort, had been fooled by the entire household of Grimmauld Place. And it would appear that his own godson was in the middle of it.

Well he would show them that no one messed with Sirius, no one would make such a fool of him again and they would rue the day that –

"Sirius...?"

Sirius froze on the balcony, his hands clenched angrily around the railings preventing any particular idiots from falling off. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He did not want to go in there and start shouting at Harry, but at the same time he couldn't hide the fury that was controlling him. He was going to do something stupid, he could feel it, and this time Harry couldn't stop him, not if his anger was directed at him.

"Sirius, is that you...?" Harry's croaky voice asked again. Behind him, Sirius heard bare feet padding slowly across the floor. He turned to see Harry unsteadily making his way across to him, and his anger vanished as he moved to catch him.

"Hey, you shouldn't be up yet," Sirius told him as he swept the younger man off his feet. He pretended to freeze upon noticing Harry's appearance for the first time and stared down at him. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked as Sirius walked towards the mirror in their room. Harry peered into it to see himself, aged further still to around the age of twenty six or seven. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak, though no sound came out. "Oh my god... what's happened to us?"

"Perhaps we both lost our memories of the last few years," Sirius muttered darkly. Harry stared up at him for a moment before turning back to the mirror. "Come on, let's get back to bed. It's the middle of the night," Sirius told him and put Harry back inside the bed, before getting in himself.

"What were you doing up so late?" Harry asked as he draped his arm across Sirius's bare chest. "And outside in the freezing cold as well."

"Just worrying about you, that's all," he replied as he turned out the light. "That passageway almost killed you this afternoon."

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking," Harry replied quietly. After that, there was no more sound from the room, though each of their minds raced in silent thought. Harry kept hearing Sirius's dark muttering again and again, wondering whether there was any particular meaning behind the suggestion that each had lost their minds. Sirius had felt his anger subside at Harry's warmth and couldn't bring himself to be angry any longer. Instead he lay there, his eyes fixed on the ceiling, wondering just how much of his affection Harry was putting on, and trying to piece together his own feelings for the young man. Harry pressed a light kiss to his cheek as a final good night some time later, and Sirius sighed inwardly; his feelings were all too clear to him now: joke or not, the two of them had been brought together by the lie that Harry had told. Now, it would be a matter of disentangling themselves from it and discovering whether or not Harry still cared for him out of that context, and what intentions he had originally had behind his strangely thought out plan.


	14. Sweet Dreams?

Chapter Fourteen

Sirius awoke the way that he had for the last few days – curled around Harry. He smiled into his lover's messy black hair, and breathed in his scent. Even as a human, the influences of Padfoot were still present. He began to plan what to do that day with Harry, memories of the previous day floating through his mind. When his thoughts returned to his and Harry's bathroom adventures, he felt his body begin to heat up, and he held Harry closer to him. They'd spent a couple of hours in laughter and a heated exploration of each other in the bathtub, and Sirius had most definitely enjoyed this brief insight into life with Harry. Except…

Except that none of this was real.

He closed his eyes. All he could see before him was Harry changing back into his eighteen year old self. No, twenty-two year old, with whom he'd shared the last few years in a passionate relationship. Just Harry, as he'd always been, with a penchant for ludicrous schemes.

He felt physically sick, and the misery was engulfing him entirely. Why had Harry done this? Oh, he was sure that he deserved some kind of revenge. He supposed that he had irritated a couple of the Order's live-in members. Perhaps more than a few. He could understand why they'd go along with any of Harry's schemes, easily. He would have done so himself, had it been directed at anyone else. But why this?

The Harry's eyes in his mind were suddenly open, and they were sitting together with Remus downstairs… Sirius frowned. This was getting pretty weird, now that Remus was joining them in his daydreaming, though he had to concede that things were already quite insane.

"_Seriously, what's the worst your future can turn out?" Harry had asked, smiling charmingly, his gaze a little too intense._

_Remus smiled. "You could be dating Harry."_

_"What! Are you mad!"_

_"Well at least you two love each other!" Remus snapped at them. He took a sip of his hot chocolate, but he too had seemed particularly focused upon him._

_"I love him – I'm not __in__ love with him!" Sirius retorted._

_"Fine, so your oh-so-awful future involves a world friendly towards Severus and you dating Harry," Remus summarised._

_"I know, life has never looked so grim," Harry had laughed. The sound seemed warmer, and far more beautiful than it probably had at the time._

"Oh, God," Sirius moaned aloud. This bloody mess was all Remus' fault! And it was doing far more damage to him than either of them probably ever considered that it would. He smiled grimly, after all, who would have guessed that Sirius Black would find himself falling in love with his own godson.

It was perfectly true, he realised, as the thought flitted through his mind. There was no going back for him now. His waking moments had been filled with thoughts of Harry, almost non-stop since his apparent memory loss.

But it was natural, he tried to reason. Everyone tells you that you're together with someone young and beautiful, and you've just forgotten. Well, you believe them! And when you awake with that gorgeous young thing naked in your bed, and said gorgeousness straddles your thighs without a thought in the world… Well, things were only more believable for him then.

If only it hadn't been Harry, he mused.

And a strange feeling of betrayal flitted over him. Because how could he think that? How could be want anyone else? Harry was everything he wanted in a partner; he was strong, and sweet, he knew how to shut him up when he went too far, and Merlin knew he was sexy as hell.

There was just the small fact that said perfect partner had one small flaw: Harry didn't want him, too.

He moaned again, and wrapped himself more tightly around Harry. It was only a matter of time before this was all taken from him. Harry would reveal the joke, and he would be forced to be both irritated and slightly amused at the same time, and hopefully keep his heartbreak to himself. Harry could never know how much he wanted to be with him. Could never know how his heart sped up when he walked unexpectedly around the corner, or when he shot him that dazzling smile.

Harry moved beside him. "Sirius? Are you all right? You sounded like you were in pain there."

Sirius opened a bleary eye, and the familiar sight of twenty-two year old Harry stared back at him, concern written over his features. "I'm fine. Just not a morning person, as well you know."

Harry smiled charmingly back at him, though there was a strange note of confusion to his features.

Sirius eyed Harry critically. "Do you know, I had the strangest dream last night."

Harry's smile faltered slightly. "Oh?"

"Yeah, I dreamt that we woke up in the middle of the night, and we were four years older. It was very strange."

Something strange moved across Harry's features then, but it was too quick for Sirius to catch whatever it was and interpret it. "And how will I look in four years' time?"

"Oh, you know, ravaged by the sands of time…" Sirius said, grinning. He traced a finger along Harry's temple. "Going grey around the edges, you know."

Harry gasped. "The hell I will be!"

Sirius laughed warmly, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Just kidding, love. You were more gorgeous than ever. Aging well, and all that."

Harry smiled. Sirius loved that smile, loved those lips and the way they curved in such obvious delight.

Before he realised what he was doing, he was leaning towards them. His hand slipped around the back of Harry's head, gently urging him closer. Harry's eyes widened slightly in surprise, when he realised what was going on. An odd look creased Harry's features, and he turned to the side. Sirius' lips brushed his cheek.

Sirius frowned, and Harry laughed. Something twisted painfully in him stomach, at the apparent mockery. "Don't fancy your morning breath today," Harry said quietly, and pressed a kiss to his nose. In another moment, he'd risen from their bed, clothed himself with a swish of his wand and was leaving the room. "Breakfast?"

"I'll see you down there."

It had been revulsion, he was sure of it. Nothing else seemed to fit the look in Harry's eyes at that exact moment. He curled up on the bed, his face pressed to Harry's pillow. So he couldn't even bear to act as his lover anymore. It appeared that their strange time-changing farce was coming to an end then, if their star actor could no longer play his role.

He'd hoped… he laughed internally to himself, even as he thought it. He'd hoped that Harry might harbour some kind of attraction for him, if nothing else, after the last few days. That maybe, maybe a few days as his lover had changed something in him, and he'd realised that what he really wanted was Sirius Black. A used-up, old man, who'd never done anything with himself, but fool around and irritate everyone around him. [_Sharp memories of Tonk's face twisted in annoyance … Remus looking worn out and exasperated_.] Who hadn't even been able to keep those he loved safe during the war. [_Harry writhing in pain under the cruciatus, helpless … Harry's eyes begging him for help._] Who couldn't even get a job and prove his use to society. [_Mockery from the Ministry official … "We're sorry, Mr Black, but we're going to have to turn you down."_]

How could he ever have thought that Harry would want him? Harry who was everything he wasn't. Bright, young, brave… he'd saved them all during the war. More ways than he cared to think of. He was gorgeous, and the wizarding world loved him. Harry was taking a short break from his Healer training over the festive period so that he could spend more time with his 'family', and the department had happily allowed him to leave. He could have anyone he wanted… well, he certainly wasn't going to choose his own godfather, was he?

With a heavy heart, Sirius slipped his clothes on, and went downstairs for breakfast. The house seemed gloomier to him today, and the festivities weren't giving him the usual burst of Christmas cheer.

He was walking silently through the house towards the kitchen, until he stopped up short. He could hear voices coming from the small sittingroom, and he was sure he'd heard his own name mentioned. Knowing that the end of this farce was coming soon, Sirius pressed his ear to the door, hoping to hear that he had at least a few days left with Harry.

"How did you do it?" Harry asked. "We woke up in the middle of the night, and we were another four years older!"

"I'm not entirely sure what happened," Remus admitted. "We did sneak in to give you the potion, but we didn't realise it would overage you so much. Severus had to brew the antidote and administer it this morning, and he certainly isn't very impressed about it either." Oh yes, that was Moony, all right. Once this whole mess was over, Sirius was going to make his long-time friend regret his part in this whole scheme.

"It's a good job that he thinks it was just some strange dream," Harry said darkly.

"Never mind," Remus said, in what Sirius thought of as his 'comforting' voice. "In a few days this will all be over."

This appeared to have been the wrong thing to say to Harry, who moaned as if he were in physical pain.

"I just don't know what to do, Remus," Harry said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"He tried to kiss me this morning, and… I just couldn't do it," Harry explained. "And he looked so hurt when I turned away. I don't want to hurt him."

"I'm not sure how much choice you have at this point, Harry," Remus said quietly. "Within the next couple of days, you have to tell him that this was all a dreadful joke, and he's going to find out that you're not a couple, and he is going to be angry with you."

"I know." Harry sounded so forlorn. Sirius would have done anything to take the pain away from him.

"I think that he really does care for you…"

"Of course he cares for me," Harry snapped. "He's my godfather."

Remus sighed heavily. "That's not what I meant. I think that he may have been developing romantic feelings for you, and I don't think that's going to make what you have to tell him any easier."

"I'll tell him tomorrow," Harry sighed softly, and Sirius felt that same painful twisting. He only had one more day with Harry! "At least it's Christmas Eve. Maybe some of his rage will have worn off by Christmas Day."

"Oh, Harry," Remus said, and there was the sound of rustling. Sirius could easily imagine that Remus had pulled Harry into his arms. "Well you should make the most of today with him then."

"I will," Harry said quietly. "We'll have the most romantic day that Sirius Black has ever had, and that way… well, maybe when he finds out the truth… he won't hate me quite so much."

"Sirius could never hate you," Remus replied. Behind the door, Sirius himself was shaking his head.

Realising that he was in no way prepared for whatever Harry's romantic day involved, Sirius left his post at the door, and ran upstairs to get showered and into some more respectable clothes.

"It truly was awful this morning though, Rem," Harry said, sighing. "I just wanted to kiss him so badly, but how can I? How dare I take such advantage of him? When he finds out that he was never meant to love me, he's going to be disgusted by the things we've done. How can I kiss him knowing that?"

"The things you've done?" Remus asked, his eyebrows raising dramatically.

Harry blushed. "I don't think you really want all the details. Suffice to say that I had a temporary lapse in judgement, and decided that a bath was a great idea."

Remus rolled his eyes. "I think that if he's willing to do this kind of thing with you, you've not got all that much to worry about. I just hope that after today, he realises that he'll really be missing something without you in this role in his life."

"Yeah… me, too."

"Now go upstairs, and get ready for your day out with Sirius. He'll be wondering where you've got to, and Merlin help me if he decides that I'm trying to steal you away. He can be a little on the possessive side," Remus told him.

Harry smiled. "I know. It'll be fine. _We'll_ be fine, if we can just get through Christmas without killing each other."

* * *

Author's Note:

Uh, so would you believe that real life got in the way? For five years? No, thought not... I just went off this story, onto another pairing (Severus/Harry, adore them) and stopped writing, really. But I kept getting reviews and requests for this story to be continued, and I told a few people recently that if they didn't get an update by Christmas then that was it, and they weren't getting any more of the story, full stop. I thought it was a shame to leave it, so I spent a while re-reading my own work, and now I'm back in action. THis is a short chapter, but that's because I just want something out there so that people know I'm still writing this. There might not be another one until after Christmas, but I am writing.

I'm also in the strange position that I no longer know what I wanted to happen any more. I'm irritated with the whole thing, too. I don't like my five-years-ago writing, and I'm not happy that I let them go fool around in the bath. Regret that part quite a lot. And the timeline's gone wrong. And Sirius allowed himself to fall in with HArry too quickly... I'll rewrite it one day. What I'm getting at, is that this story is no longer fixed in place. Anything could happen, and though I have my own ideas, if anyone thinks "Oh my god, it would be amazing for this to happen" then you should tell me, and if it fits, then I'll write it in.

I hope everyone's happy and well, and excited for Christmas! It's snowing here at this very moment in time, so I'm going to slink off and enjoy the festive weather :)


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